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I  Q.U  I  N  CY  I 1 

1639  —  FIRST     CHURGH~l88^ 


vl 


FROM   THE  LIBRARY  OF 


REV.    LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON,   D.  D. 


BEQUEATHED   BY  HIM  TO 


THE   LIBRARY  OF 


PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


/OI^S 


APR  23  1932  ^ 


THE  "CHAPPEL    OF    EASE" 


AND 


CHURCH  OF  STATESMEN. 


Commemorative  Services 

AT   THE 

COMPLETION  OF  TWO  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY  YEARS 
SINCE  THE  GATHEKING  OF  THE 

jfirst  Cf)urc|)  of  Cl)rifit  in  (autncp.  Ai^ss 


WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PRINTED    FOR  THE    SOCIETY. 

1890. 


^antbersttg  Press: 

John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge. 


PREFACE. 


THE  labor  involved  in  getting  at  the  facts  of  the  History 
OP  First  Church,  and  in  arranging  for  publication  what 
else  is  in  these  pages,  has  been  greatly  lightened  by  the  courte- 
ous assistance  of  many  who  are  engaged  in  historical  research, 
and  by  the  encouragement  of  all  interested  in  the  story  and 
fame  of  this  ancient  society. 

To  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams  I  am  especially  indebted  for 
his  co-operation  in  securing  photographs  of  the  portraits  of  his 
ancestors,  and  for  the  frequent  use  I  have  made  of  his  full  and 
very  interesting  sketch  of  Quincy  in  the  "  History  of  Norfolk 
County."  This  sketch  I  have  found  to  be  an  almost  exhaustless 
treasury  of  facts,  well  chosen  and  skilfully  connected,  and  the 
extent  of  my  borrowings  from  it  has  been  limited  only  by  the 
confined  scope  of  this  book.  Mr.  J.  P.  Quincy  readily  fur- 
nished the  engraving  of  Josiah  Quincy,  and  from  other  mem- 
bers of  his  family  I  have  obtained  valuable  hints.  Many 
excellent  suggestions  have  come  to  me  from  Mr.  S,  A.  Bates, 
Braintree's  noted  antiquary  and  town  clerk,  and  from  the  Hon. 
Samuel  A.  Green,  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society.  Messrs.  Houghton,  Mifflin,  &  Co.  proffered  the  electro- 
type of  "  Dorothy  Q. ; "  Messrs.  Ticknor  &  Co.  permitted  the  use 
of  tlie  engraving  of  John  Hancock,  which  was  prepared  for  the 
*"  Memorial  History  of  Boston,"  and  the  proprietors  of  the 
"  Quincy  Patriot "  lent  their  electrotype  of  the  Rev.  John 
Hancock  Meetinar-House,     Other  illustrations  I  am  enabled  to 


IV  PREFACE. 

supply  from  the  engravings  used  by  Dr.  Lunt  in  the  "  Two  Hun- 
dredth Anniversary  "  discourses,  which  were  given  me  by  Mrs. 
Revere.  Mr.  Harry  L.  Rice  placed  in  my  hands  many  artistic 
photographs  of  Quincy  houses  and  their  interiors,  which  have 
been  of  great  assistance.  The  view  of  the  interior  of  the  Stone 
Temple  was  taken  by  him  at  my  request.  To  all  these  and 
many  besides  who  also  rendered  essential  service  my  thanks  are 
extended. 

Owing  to  the  length  of  the  historical  discourses,  much  in 
them  was  omitted  when  they  were  delivered.  They  are  now 
published  in  full,  with  notes  and  an  appendix. 

D.  M.  WILSON. 

QumcT,  March,  1890. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

The  "  Chappel  OF  Ease  " 1 

The  Chukch  of  Statesmen 33 

Commemorative  Services 65 

Invocation  by  the  Rev.  R.  Stebbins 69 

Prater  by  the  Rev.  A.  P.  Putnam,  D.D 70 

Address  by  the  Pastor 73 

Letter  of  Gov.  Oliver  Ames 74 

Address  by  the  Rev.  S.  W.  Brooke 76 

Remarks  op  Mr.  L.  H.  H.  Johnson 80 

Letter  of  the  Rev.  J.  D.  Wells 81 

Address  by  Charles  Francis  Adams 82 

Address  by  the  Rev.  A.  A.  Ellsworth 87 

Address  by  Josiah  Quincy 91 

Poem  by  Christopher  P.  Cranch 97 

Address  by  the  Rev.  C.  R.  Eliot 105 

Address  by  the  Rev.  James  de  Normandie 108 

Address  BY  THE  Rev.  Joseph  Osgood 110 

Persons  Present  at  the  200th  and  250th  Anniversaries  112 

Letters  of  Congratulation 113 

Preliminary  Proceedings 133 


vi  CONTENTS. 

APPENDIX. 

PAGE 

The  Covenant 137 

The  Deacons 138 

Meeting-Houses 139 

Gifts  of  Communion  Vessels 147 

Other  Gifts  to  the  Church 150 

Portrait  of  John  Wheelaa'right,  and  other  Portraits  and 

Pictures 151 

Moses  Fiske's  Autograph 159 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Stone  Temple Frontispiece 

Mount  Wollaston  in  1839 4 

John  Wheelwright 12 

QuiNCY  Mansion 17 

Brackett  Homestead 17 

The  Webb  House 25 

Birthplaces  of  John  and  John  Quincy  Adams 25 

The  Ruggles  House 25 

The  Hancock  Meeting-House 49 

John  Adams 50 

Abigail  Adams    .     .     f 50 

John  Hancock 52 

Josiah  Quincy 54 

John  Quincy  Adams 56 

Mrs.  John  Quincy  Adams -56 

Charles  Francis  Adams 62 

Mrs.  Charles  Francis  Adams 62 

Gravestones  of  Pastor  Tompson  and  Teacher  Flynt     ...  64 

Interior  of  Stone  Temple 65 

Rev.  Wm.  Smith 81 

Richard  Cranch 81 


VIU  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Rev.  Peter  "Whitney 81 

Rev.  W.  p.  Lunt,  D.D 81 

Rev.  J.  D.  Wells 81 

Rev.  D.  M.  Wilson 81 

Tablet  to  John  and  Abigail  Adams .103 

Tablet  to  John  Quincy  and  Louisa  Catherine  Adams    .     .     .111 

Invitation  to  250th  Anniversary 113 

"  Dorothy  Q." 116 

Adams  Mansion 121 

Drawing-Room  in  Adams  Mansion 121 

YoRKE  Communion  Cup,  1699 147 

Cranch  House 155 

The  Rev.  John  Wilson  House 155 

Signature  of  Moses  Fiske 159 


HISTOEICAL   DISCOUESES. 


I. 

THE   "CHAPPEL  OF  EASE." 

FOK     THIS     IS     THE     COVENANT     THAT     I     WILL     MAKE     WITH     THE 

House  of  Israel  aftek  those  days,  saith  the  Lord  :  I 
WILL  PUT  MY  Laws  into  their  mind,  and  write  them  in 
their  hearts.  —  Hebrews  viii.  10. 

FOR  a  church  to  have  lived  two  and  a  half  centuries 
of  the  nineteen  named  after  Christ  may  seem  a 
slight  distinction,  most  especially  when  that  measure  of 
continuance  is  compared,  to  go  back  no  further,  with  the 
age  of  the  really  ancient  Christian  institutions  of  the  Old 
World,  —  such  as  the  Cathedral  of  Canterbury  founded 
by  Saint  Augustine,  or  the  monastic  order  organized  by 
Saint  Benedict.  But  when  it  is  remembered  that  this 
length  of  life  is  concurrent  with  the  history  of  civiliza- 
tion in  New  England,  that  it  was  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago  that  one  lofty  enterprise,  conceived 
and  executed  by  devout  and  courageous  men  and  women, 
established  the  State  as  well  as  the  Church ;  when,  too, 
we  consider  that  whatever  of  holiest  aspiration  and 
noblest  endeavor  has  distinguished  the  people  of  New 
England  —  their  longing   for   things   eternal,  their   obe- 


2  THE    "CHAPPEL    OF    EASE." 

dience  to  laws  human  and  divine,  their  domestic  virtues, 
their  love  of  liberty,  their  respect  for  learning  —  was 
kindled  and  nourished  at  the  altar  thus  early  erected  to 
God,  —  then  the  rounding  of  two  and  a  half  centuries  may 
fairly  be  celebrated  as  an  event  of  some  importance. 
With  this  regard,  many  of  our  old  "  First  Churches  "  have 
recently  observed  with  much  solemn  rejoicing  their  two 
hundred  and  fiftieth  birthday.  No  church  of  them  all, 
however,  has,  in  the  circumstances  attending  its  forma- 
tion, a  more  exciting  and  picturesque  history  than  this 
First  Church  of  Christ  in  Quincy ;  and  no  other  in  all 
the  land  has  become  more  famous  for  eminent  and  en- 
tirely noble  men  and  women.  Ours  is  a  church  with  a 
story. 

Much  of  this  story  has  been  told  on  previous  anniver- 
saries by  two  of  the  most  noted  pastors  of  the  church,  — 
the  Rev.  John  Hancock,  and  the  Rev.  William  P.  Lunt, 
D.  D.  Their  careful  and  eloquent  discourses  have  served 
greatly  to  deepen  affection  for  this  ancient  society,  and 
to  increase  the  devotion  of  its  members  to  the  pure 
principles  of  our  religion.  All  that  is  left  me  to  do  now 
is  to  cherish  the  hope  that  I  may  improve  in  some  slight 
measure  the  present  occasion  as  they  worthily  improved 
the  past  occasions. 

Exciting  were  the  circumstances,  I  have  said,  which 
attended  the  formation  of  this  church.  It  was  here,  in 
this  place,  that  the  stern  temper  and  solidifying  dogma- 
tism of  the  Puritan  came  in  conflict,  on  two  notable 
occasions,  with  more  free  and  fluent  conceptions  of  life 
and   belief.     Had  these  attained  permanence  and  power 


MORTON   AND   MERRYMOUNT.  3 

the  course  of  New  England  history  would  have  been 
changed  materially.  Certainly  one  of  the  movements 
which  they  opposed  would  have,  in  the  tolerant  and 
expanding  spirit  of  it,  so  allayed  the  fierce  dogmatic 
zeal  of  the  Puritans,  that  the  ruthless  persecution  of 
Quakers,  Baptists,  and  so-called  witches  might  never 
have  stained  the  otherwise  whitest  character  of  the 
founders  of  our  institutions. 


MORTON"   AND    MERRYMOUNT. 

The  first  thing  with  which  the  ideas  of  the  Puritans 
clashed  was  a  conception  of  life.  As  they  would  put  it, 
it  was  a  matter,  not  of  doctrine,  but  of  practice.  Mor- 
ton's enterprise  at  Merry  mount  was  in  the  serious  motive 
of  it  a  trading  adventure,  and  in  the  lighter  aspects  of 
it  a  transplanted  bit  of  the  boisterous  life  of  the  unre- 
generate  Englishman  of  that  time,  who  became  King's 
man  and  Cavalier  in  contemptuous  enmity  to  all  those  he 
called  "  fanatics."  Judged  by  any  standard  some  of  the 
practices  of  Morton  and  his  fellows  are  reprehensible,  but 
surely  they  are  made  to  assume  a  darker  shade  contrasted 
with  the  stern  ambition  and  irreproachable  life  of  the 
other  settlers  in  the  Bay.  These  jovial  spirits,  to  whom 
it  was  imputed  a  sin  to  dance  around  a  May-pole,  were 
no  worse  than  the  average  non -Puritan,  good -easy 
Englishman  who  did  the  same  thing  on  the  village  green 
across  the  sea.  Taken  back  to  England  charged  by  the 
Puritans  with  grievous  faults,  Morton  passes  for  a  law- 
abiding  person.  Returning  once  more  to  these  shores, 
black  again  he  appears  against  the  white  ground  of  the 


4  THE    "  CHAPPEL    OF   EASE. 

theocracy.  However  we  may  think  of  this,  is  it  not,  at 
least,  to  be  admitted  that  the  revels  of  the  adventurers 
at  Merry  mount  were  tempered  with  poetry  and  the 
classics?  And  does  not  Morton  claim  for  himself  that 
one  of  his  chief  functions  was  to  "  endeavor  to  advance 
the  dignity  of  the  Church  of  England  and  the  laudable 
use  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  "  ?     Had  these  mis- 


MERRTMODNT. 


sionaries  of  "  Merrie  England  "  conducted  themselves 
less  dissolutely,  is  it  not  probable  they  still  would 
have  been  an  abomination  in  the  sight  of  the  Puritans  ? 
Was  it  not  the  kind  of  their  offence  more  than  the  degree 
of  their  offending  which  incensed  Bradford,  Endicott,  and 
the  rest  ?  Sternly  the  Puritans  had  renounced  everything 
for  the  dogma  that  earthly  existence,  being  under  the 
curse,  is  a  term  of  perilous  probation,  from  which  they 
were  to  be  rescued  by  the  one  narrow  outlet  of  justifica- 
tion. What  cared  they  for  the  pastimes,  or  even  the 
intellectual  delights,   of   a   world  thus   darkened   by  sin 


MORTON  AND   MEEKYMOUNT.  5 

and  endangering  their  eternal  welfare !  Its  pleasures, 
its  beauty,  its  art,  its  graces  were  worse  than  vanities. 
They  might  be  temptations  of  the  Evil  One.  How  much 
thought  loses  in  breadth  and  sympathy,  and  life  in  adorn- 
ment and  comfort,  by  thus  being  given  over  to  dogma,  I 
will  not  pause  to  show.  However  admirable  their  reso- 
lute strength  of  character  and  the  singleness  of  their 
devotion,  it  is  plain  they  left  one  side  of  their  being 
entirely  uncultivated.  The  more  rigid  of  them  could  not 
look  patiently  upon  even  the  innocent  enjoyment  of  this 
life  and  the  good  things  of  it.  We  do  not  condemn  them 
for  this.  They  were  so  terribly  in  earnest  to  settle 
exactly  right  their  relations  to  God,  and  to  save  them- 
selves wholly  from  the  power  of  Satan,  that  everything 
outside  the  sphere  of  these  efforts  seemed  beyond  expres- 
sion inane.  While  in  England  they  regarded  with  pity 
or  ineffable  scorn  the  men  who  indulged  in  pleasure,  — 
it  is  to  be  admitted  it  was  often  sinful  pleasure,  —  and 
when  they  found  the  same  sort  here  in  this  New  World 
they  felt  under  no  restraint  to  tolerate  such  "  vile  per- 
sons and  loose-livers."  And  very  likely  it  were  wisest  to 
conclude  that  in  solemn  times  of  sternest  endeavor  mock- 
ing "  fribbles,"  and  "  debauchees  "  however  amusing,  are 
forthwith  to  be  banished.^  Here  is  the  motive  which 
prompted  hostility  to  Morton ;  and  when  he  made  him- 
self really  culpable  by  selling  fire-arms  to  the  savages,  the 
occasion  was  quickly  seized.  From  Pascataway  to  Ply- 
mouth the  settlers  united  to  cast  out  this  swaggering 
sportsman,  this  exponent  of  pleasant  living  and  "  the  laud- 
able use  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer."     John  Fiske 

1  C.  F.  Adams's  Introduction  to  New  English  Canaan. 


THE    "  CHAPPEL   OF    EASE. 


calls  him  a  "picturesque  but  ill-understood  personage." 
An  ill-used  personage  he  was  now  to  be  also.  Miles  Stand- 
ish,  with  his  "  invincible  army,"  invaded  our  soil,  captured 
Morton,  and  roughly  dragged  him  to  Plymouth.  Thence 
he  was  shipped  a  prisoner  to  England.  He  returned  free 
the  next  year,  only  to  be  seized  by  the  Boston  magistrates, 
imprisoned,  put  in  the  bilboes,  and  to  England  sent  once 
more.  As  he  passed  out  of  the  bay  his  house  was  fired  in 
his  sight,  in  rough  intimation  that  the  "fanatic  separatists" 
had  done  with  him  for  good  and  all ;  that  "  the  habitation 
of  the  wicked  should  no  more  appear  in  Israel ;  "  and  that 
henceforth  this  land  was  to  be  given  up  to  sobriety  of 
carriage  and  the  preaching  of  the  accepted  dogma. 

After  the  dispersion  of  Morton  and  his  "  consorts,"  the 
country  round  about  the  Mount  was  practically  unoccu- 
pied by  the  whites.  It  was  known  chiefly  now  as  the 
planting  ground  of  the  tribe  of  Indians  called  the  Massa- 
chusetts, and  through  its  meadows  and  around  the  head 
of  its  salt-water  inlets  was  worn  the  trail  which  ran 
between  Plymouth  and  Boston.  If  a  few  of  Morton's 
party  still  lingered  upon  the  lands  he  claimed,  they  have 
left  no  trace  to  assure  us  of  the  fact.  The  raids  of 
Miles  Standish  and  the  Boston  magistrates  were  only  too 
effectual  in  cutting  off  ten  years  from  the  age  of  this 
settlement,  and  making  us  the  fifteenth  or  so,  when  we 
might  have  been  the  first  or  second,  in  the  Bay.  But  as 
recompense  the  soil  was  to  be  planted  with  better  seed. 
God  was  "  sifting  a  whole  nation  that  he  might  send 
choice  grain  over  into  this  wilderness." 


THE  BRAINTEEE  COMPANY. 


THE  BRAINTREE  COMPANY. 


In  the  summer  of  1632  the  company  —  or  congrega- 
tion, rather  —  of  the  renowned  minister,  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Hooker,  from  Braintree  in  Essex  County,  England,  began 
to  "  sit  down  "  at  the  Mount  and  provide  for  the  coming 
of  their  pastor  and  still  others  of  the  brethren.  While 
they  were  actively  engaged  erecting  houses  to  shelter 
them  during  the  approaching  winter,  word  came  in 
August  from  the  General  Court  that  tliey  were  to  re- 
move to  Newtown,  now  Cambridge.  They  did  not  de- 
part at  once,  we  surmise,  for  it  is  likely  they  would 
keep  to  the  rude  shelter  already  begun,  and  improve 
it  throughout  the  short  season  left  them.  There  is  no 
evidence  the  allotments  were  made  at  Newtown  and  the 
names  of  those  taking  them  recorded  before  the  next 
spring.  And  not  all,  who  went  thither,  removed  at  last 
to  Hartford  when  Hooker  led  the  Braintree  company 
there.  Two,  we  certainly  know,  drifted  to  Hingham.-' 
Some  we  must  presume  remained  here.  The  fact  that 
eight  years  later  the  town  when  incorporated  was  called 
Braintree,  is  evidence  that  settlers  from  Hooker's  com- 
pany continued  here  and  acquired  influence.  We  may 
reasonably  account  this  the  beginning  of  the  permanent 
settlement  at  the  Mount. 

THE    MOUNT     ANNEXED    TO    BOSTON. 

Hooker  was  a  noted  divine,  and  his  people  entirely 
worthy  persons.     But  a  more  important  company   still 

^  Page's  History  of  Cambridge. 


8  THE    "  CHAPPEL    OF   EASE." 

was  about  this  time  looked  for  from  England.  One 
wonders  if  the  Braintree  company  was  ordered  away  to 
make  room  for  it.  John  Cotton,  the  famous  rector  of 
St.  Botolph's,  in  Boston,  England,  was  coming  over,  and 
with  him  many  others,  some  being  wealthy  and  influen- 
tial. AYhere  should  they  be  bestowed?  The  arrival 
of  Cotton  in  September,  1633,  and  about  two  hundred 
more  made  this  question  urgent.  At  once  the  Governor 
and  Council,  together  with  the  ministers  and  elders  of 
all  the  churches,  met  to  consider  the  matter.  The  new 
arrivals  desired  they  "  might  sit  down  where  they  might 
keep  store  of  cattle."  Boston,  with  scarce  seven  hundred 
acres,  and  much  of  that  marsh  and  rough  thicket,  had 
no  sufficient  accommodation.  But  in  Boston  the  great 
Cotton  and  his  company  must  be  retained.  So  "  it  was 
agreed  by  full  consent  that  the  fittest  place  for  him  was 
Boston,  and  in  that  respect  [of  scarcity  of  land]  those  of 
Boston  might  take  farms  in  any  part  of  the  Bay  not  be- 
lonQ-ina:  to  other  towns."  ^  Cotton  was  then  added  to  the 
Boston  church  as  Teacher,  and  the  General  Court  in  the 
spring  of  1634  ordered  that  "Boston  shall  have  conve- 
nient enlargement  at  Mount  Wollaston."  Four  "  indif- 
ferent men  "  were  appointed  to  draw  up  a  plan  of  the 
lands  there  and  apportion  them.  Men  not  "  indifferent  " 
there  were,  who  had  already  fixed  their  desires  upon 
certain  choice  portions  of  the  newly  acquired  territory .^ 
These  were  to  be  provided  for.     But   first  their  respect 

1  Winthrop,  i.  133. 

2  December.  First.  1634.  —  It  is  granted  that  Mr.  Newbery  shall  have 
the  hedgey  ground  that  lies  in  the  bottom  betwixt  his  house  and  the  water 
next  Mr.  Cottington's  farme  in  p'te  of  the  medow  that  he  is  to  have.  —  Dor- 
chester Record. 


THE  MOUNT  ANNEXED  TO  BOSTON.  9 

for  the  ministry  found  expression  in  a  large  grant  of  land 
to  their  pastor,  John  Wilson,  then  absent  on  a  voyage  to 
Eno-land  to  bring  over  his  wife.  Already  he  had  received 
land  by  Mystic  side,  but  now  on  the  10th  of  December, 
1634,  there  were  bestowed  upon  him  as  many  acres  "  at 
his  election  "  in  this  favored  place  as  his  former  grant 
amounted  to,  and  in  exchange  for  it.  He  returned  in 
October  of  1635,  and  seeking  to  possess  himself  of  his 
allotment  found  it  encumbered  with  the  claims  of  earlier 
settlers  from  Dorchester  and  the  original  rights  of  the 
Indians.  Evidently  it  was  not  given  him  to  take  land 
anywhere  -'at  his  election,"  but  only  where  it  was  set 
apart  for  him  on  the  plan.  A  matter  of  foreordination 
seems  to  have  predominated  his  power  of  "  election,"  — 
an  association  of  these  doctrines  not  entirely  acceptable 
to  the  Boston  theologian.  However,  to  compensate  him 
for  money  spent  in  purchasing  the  rights  of  claimants  he 
was  permitted  to  keep  his  land  by  Myi^tic,  and  additional 
acres  were  granted  him  at  the  Mount.  Ten  days  after 
this  was  done  there  was  "  bound  out  there  what  may 
be  sufficient  for  Mr.  William  Coddington  and  Edmund 
Quinsey  to  have  for  their  particular  farms  there."  For 
situation  their  allotment  excelled,  and  we  hear  not  an 
echo  of  conflicting  claims.  These  were  the  men  not  '•  in- 
different," who  were  not,  for  fairness'  sake,  to  be  appoint- 
ed on  the  committee  to  draw  up  a  plan,  yet  who,  long 
before  this,  had  selected  their  lands  and  purchased  all 
rights  of  Indians  and  others.  Coddington  was  the  treasu- 
rer of  the  colony,  a  man  of  substance  and  solid  influence, 
noted  too  as  builder  of  the  first  brick  house  in  Boston. 
Quincy  was  also  a  man  of  means  and  commanding  char- 


10  THE    "  CHAPPEL    OF    EASE." 

acter,  chosen  to  office  soon  after  his  arrival  here.  The 
grant  these  two  men  received  amounted  to  above  a  thou- 
sand acres  in  one  broad  strip  bordering  on  the  sea,  and 
extending  from  Sachem's  Brook  to  a  point  beyond  the 
hill  which  Morton  made  famous. 

These  prior  claims  settled,  Boston  was  ready  to  give 
members  of  Cotton's  company  and  others  of  its  own 
congregation  sufficient  allotments.  Atherton  Hough, 
sometime  mayor  of  Boston,  England,  and  a  man  of  con- 
sequence among  Cotton's  followers,  had  laid  out  for  him 
a  large  estate  of  six  hundred  acres  on  the  Neck,  to  this 
day  named  after  him.  Another  devoted  adherent  of 
Cotton  was  William  Hutchinson.  His  wife,  who  was 
more  devoted  still,  and  who  welcomed  the  wilderness 
that  had  Cotton  to  preach  in  it,  was  the  famous  Anne 
Hutchinson,  so  prominent  later  in  the  first  great  doc- 
trinal controversy  of  the  colony.  This  William  Hutch- 
inson received  a  "  great  lott "  adjoining  Wilson's  grant 
on  the  west,  in  what  is  now  North  Quincy  and  East 
Milton.  At  the  same  time  that  these  large  grants  were 
made,  three  divisions  of  allotments  were  marked  out 
for  the  "  common  people."  ^  These  allotments  were  ap- 
portioned at  the  rate  of  seven  acres  for  every  person 
in  the  family,  and  were  arranged  along  Town  River 
and  mostly  to  the  south  of  it.  They  were  called  the 
"  Brethren's  Lots,"  for  all  receiving  them  were  members 
of  the  Boston  congregation.  It  is  a  notable  fact  that 
only  such  as  were  members  of  the  congregation,  or  likely 
to  be,  were  granted  lands.  A  church  was  settling  here,  — 
a  congregation  of  earnest  persons  who  could  no  longer 

1  Boston  Records,  pp.  21,  46,  4  7. 


THE   MOUNT    ANNEXED    TO   BOSTON.  11 

endure  in  silence  the  candles,  the  posturing,  and  the 
doctrines  imposed  by  the  bishops,  and  who,  not  caring 
to  abide  the  perils  of  open  speech  (the  imprisonment, 
the  whipping,  the  maiming,  which  Laud  imposed),  had 
fled  for  peace  to  this  wide  and  free  wilderness.  With 
all  their  home-making,  still  uppermost  in  their  thoughts 
were  spiritual  things.  They  were  so  disposing  them- 
selves as  best  "to  worship  God  and  enjoy  him  forever." 
As  yet  their  meeting-house  was  in  Boston,  and  thither 
on  the  Lord's  Day  they  conscientiously  repaired.  But  so 
rapid  was  the  growth  of  the  new  settlement  that  two 
years  had  not  elapsed  since  the  first  allotment  was  made, 
when  the  inhabitants  were  petitioning  to  be  set  olf  as 
an  independent  town  and  church.  In  December  of  1636 
eight  persons,  with  the  Governor  at  their  head,  were 
chosen  to  consider  "  of  Mount  Wollastone  business,  and 
for  the  ripening  thereof  how  there  may  be  a  town  and 
church  there  with  the  consent  of  this  town's  inhabi- 
tants." ^  "  Many  meetings  were  about  it.  The  great  let 
was,  in  regard  it  was  given  to  Boston  for  upholding 
the  town  and  church  there,  which  end  would  be  frus- 
trated by  the  removal  of  so  many  chief  men  as  would  go 
thither.  For  help  of  this  it  was  propounded  that  such 
as  dwelt  there  should  pay  six-pence  the  acre,  yearly, 
for  such  lands  as  lay  within  a  mile  of  the  water,  and 
three-pence  for  that  which  lay  farther  off."  ^ 

All  conspired  to  the  speedy  establishment  here  of  one 
of  the  most  prosperous  and  progressive  towns  in  the 
colony.  The  "  chief  men,"  intelligent,  ambitious,  and 
wealthy,  were  here ;   the   people,  sober  and  industrious, 

1  Boston  Records,  p.  14.  2  Winthrop,  i.  233, 


12  THE    "  CHAPPEL    OF    EASE." 

were  here  in  sufficient  and  increasing  numbers.  All  the 
preliminaries  were  arranged  ;  actually  all  but  the  final 
step  taken.  A  church  too  was  virtually  gathered,  and 
only  waited  for  that  joining  in  solemn  covenant  which 
should  launch  it  into  an  independent  and  influential  ca- 
reer. Indeed,  the  very  character  of  that  church  seemed 
to  be  determined.  For  some  time  now,  events  in  the 
colony  had  been  bringing  to  the  surface  the  progres- 
sive and  conservative  instincts  of  the  people  and  array- 
ing them  in  opposing  parties.  And  as  a  number  of  the 
more  liberal  sort  had  already  established  themselves  at 
the  Mount,  others  were  looking  in  that  direction  as  to 
a  retreat  for  the  peaceful  development  of  their  opinions. 
The  right  minister  only  seemed  wanting,  but  he  also 
was  at  hand  in  Boston,  —  a  man  by  temperament  and 
scholarship  fitted  to  lead  an  intelligent,  truth-seeking 
congregation.  The  next  month  he  received  an  invita- 
tion to  labor  at  the  Mount. 


JOHN    WHEELWRIGHT. 

The  Rev.  John  Wheelwright  arrived  in  Boston  with 
his  family  the  26th  of  May,  1636,  about  seven  months 
before  the  committee  was  chosen  to  arrange  for  an  inde- 
pendent church  at  the  Mount.  He  was  at  this  time  forty- 
four  years  of  age,  in  the  full  strength  of  manhood,  ener- 
getic, independent,  aggressive.  Oliver  Cromwell  was  his 
college  classmate  and  friend ;  they  were  alike  in  the  fear- 
lessness and  stubbornness  of  their  character.  Persistently 
Wheelwright  preached  against  the  ceremonial  innovations 
of  Laud,  and  when  silenced  for  it  resolutely  turned  his 


^onryTuriyiXi  $o  xt^^tT 


HELIOTYPE   PRINTING    CO.,   BOSTON. 


JOHN  WHEELWRIGHT.  13 

face  to  the  New  World.     He  found  affairs  not  entirely 
peaceful  here.     Mrs.  Hutchinson,  "  his  sister,"  as  Win- 
throp  called  her  (Mr.  Hutchinson  was  his  wife's  brother), 
was  beginning  to  attract  attention  by  her  original  ideas, 
and   by  daring  to  criticise  some  of  the  ministers.     Now 
two  years  in  the  colony,   she  by  her  tender,  neighborly 
offices  had  endeared  herself  as  "  a  dear  saint  and  servant 
of  God,"  as  her  husband  described  her ;  and  by  her  bright 
intelligence  had  become  a  necessity  to  women  spiritually 
perplexed.      Woman  then,   as  regards  religion  at  leasst, 
was  the  suppressed  sex,  quite  silently  subservient  to  the 
solemn  ecclesiastical  routine,  her  spontaneity  and  swift 
instincts   obstructed    by  ponderous   masculine  formality. 
With  all  a  woman's  disdain  of  mechanism,  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson expressed  in  the  most  luminous  way  just  what  was 
in  the  minds   of  her  sisters,  and  then   led  them  on  to 
higher  interpretations  of  the  letter  and  finer  perceptions 
of  the  spirit.     She  was  interesting;  they  liked  to  hear 
her  talk,  and  gained  more  profit  from  her  than  from  the 
most  "  painful  preaching."     In  time,  as  Winthrop  declares, 
"  she  had  more  resort  to  her  for  counsel  about  matters  of 
conscience  than  any  minister  (I  might  say  all  the  elders) 
in  the  country."    And  from  a  few  who  dropped  in  to  talk 
with  her  about  the  sermons  preached  of  a  Sunday  or  lec- 
ture day,  she  eventually  gathered  around  her,  twice  in 
the  week  regularly,  as  many  as  from  sixty  to  a  hundred 
women.     This  went  on  at  first  with  the  entire  commen- 
dation of  the  ministers.     It  was  like  a  modern  revival. 
But  trouble  began  when  Mrs.  Hutchinson  discovered  that 
Pastor  Wilson's  preaching  was  not   so   spiritual  as  that 
of  her  favorite  divine,  Teacher  Cotton.     She  criticised 


14  THE    "CHAPPEL    OF    EASE." 

other  ministers  too ;  said  they  preached  a  "  covenant  of 
works,"  and  hinted  that  an  austere  countenance  was  no 
sure  sign  of  piety. 

The  ministers  of  the  colony  were  a  peculiar  class,  ex- 
alted by  their  sacrifices  for  the  faith  of  the  Reformers, 
and  reverenced  as  the  prophets,  the  very  mouths  of  God. 
"  What  ye  do  unto  them,  the  Lord  Jesus  takes  as  done 
unto  himself,"  was  gravely  asserted.  "  And  now  sud- 
denly," as  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  the  younger  writes,  "  a 
woman  came,  and  calmly  and  persistently  intimated  that 
as  a  class  God's  prophets  in  New  England  were  not  what 
they  seemed."  This  was  more  than  could  be  borne  by 
even  "  very  humble  and  unworthy  instruments  of  God." 
To  teach  strange  doctrine  was  bad  enough,  but  to  doubt 
the  accredited  servants  of  the  Most  High  was  worse. 
Fairly,  however,  they  were  open  to  this  criticism.  The 
weak  and  disagreeable  side  of  Puritanism  was  its  insist- 
ence upon  uniformity  in  doctrine  and  the  upholding  of 
the  ordinances.  The  same  phrases  were  expected  from 
every  one,  the  same  outward  demeanor,  the  same  pious 
routine.  One  might  make  a  business  of  all  this,  go 
through  it  mechanically,  appear  to  be  very  devout,  and 
still  remain  unspiritual  within. 

From  this  the  teaching  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  a 
revolt.  She  laid  the  emphasis  upon  spirituality.  No 
matter  about  the  outward  demeanor  and  the  painful 
eifort  to  fulfil  the  law.  Have  the  heart  right;  let  the 
spiritual  principle  be  active  within  you,  —  then  whatever 
is  worthy  and  of  good  report  will  follow.  She  really  rose 
to  a  sublime  religious  philosophy  when  she  declared  that 
the  individual  might  have  union  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 


JOHN   WHEELWEIGHT.  15 

that  then  he  is  more  than  a  creature :  he  is  immortal, 
has  present  revelations  of  God,  and  is  filled  with  ravishing 
joy.  What  have  we  better  than  that  to-day  ?  To  be 
sure,  when  one  attempts  to  define  such  union  he  is  lia- 
ble to  ambiguity  of  expression ;  and  when  he  tries  to 
extort  too  much  from  private  revelations  he  is  likely  to 
fall  into  extravagances.  In  these  particulars  the  Hutch- 
inson party  exposed  themselves  to  misunderstandings. 
Nevertheless  here  was  a  genuine  advance  of  the  Spirit, 
a  genial  enlightenment  in  the  natural  evolution  of  the 
Puritan  ideal. 

Wheelwrisrht  allied  himself  at  once  and  enthusiasti- 
cally  with  the  "  Covenant  of  Grace "  party.  Not  that 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  now  converted  him.  These  heart-search- 
ing principles  were  held  in  common  by  them  both  and 
by  others  while  in  England.  They  might  almost  be 
called  the  Lincolnshire  varient  of  non-conformity.  All 
the  Hutchinsons  held  it  to  be  the  truth.  Cotton  and 
Hough  and  others  from  the  fens  district  were  sympa- 
thetic, and  doubtless  Wheelwright  during  the  three  years 
he  lived  near  Lincoln  under  the  ban  of  the  bishops 
labored  as  he  did  in  this  land  ''to  brins;  Christ  into 
the  hearts  of  the  people."  By  not  one  of  the  liberals 
is  this  doctrine  introduced  as  a  thing  strange  and  revo- 
lutionary. It  is  regarded  by  them  simply  as  the  ideal 
puritanism,  the  faith  of  the  Reformers  at  its  best,  the 
truth,  the  hope  of  the  free  enjoyment  of  which  had 
brought  them  all  to  this  country.  Why  it  should  give 
offence  to  any  was  no  doubt  a  surprise  to  Wheelwright. 
On  the  side  of  this  vital  and  sincere  effort  to  realize 
God  in  the  heart  he  found  arrayed  the  entire  Boston 


16  THE    "CHAPPEL    OF    EASE." 

church,  with  the  exception  of  Wilson  the  pastor,  Gov- 
ernor Winthrop,  and  one  or  two  others.  "Many  out 
of  the  church  were  her  converts  ;  yea,"  says  Winthrop, 
bitterly,  "  many  profane  persons  became  of  her  opinion." 
It  was  a  popular  movement  sweeping  into  its  current  the 
chief  town  in  the  Bay,  and  some  in  other  towns.  Glad  to 
find  Wheelwright  with  them,  this  party  was  minded  to 
place  him  with  Wilson  and  Cotton  as  a  third  minister 
over  Boston  church.  On  a  Sunday  in  the  October  after 
his  arrival  this  project  was  set  in  motion,  and  on  the  30th 
was  taken  up  for  definite  action.  Opposition  was  made  ; 
even  Cotton,  who  was  claimed  by  the  liberals,  saying  he 
"  could  not  consent,  .  .  .  calling  in  one  whose  spirit  they 
knew  not,  and  one  who  seemed  to  dissent  in  judgment ; 
.  .  .  and  though  he  thought  reverently  of  his  godli- 
ness and  abilities,  so  as  he  could  be  content  to  live  under 
such  a  ministry,  yet  seeing  he  was  apt  to  raise  doubt- 
ful disputations  he  could  not  consent  to  choose  him  to 
that  place.  .  .  .  Whereupon  the  church  gave  way  that 
he  might  be  called  to  a  new  church  to  be  gathered  at 
Mount  Wollaston." 


WHEELWEIGHT    CALLED    TO    THE   MOUNT. 

The  promptness  with  which  Wheelwright  was  diverted 
from  Boston  church  to  the  church  growing  up  at  the 
Mount  suggests  it  was  a  purpose  held  in  hand  as  a  second 
resort  by  the  liberals.  I  am  tempted  to  say  that  the  in- 
tention was  becoming  manifest  to  build  in  this  place  a 
church  in  which  the  new  spirit  and  expanding  views 
might  be  peaceably  unfolded.    At  all  events  the  enterprise 


THE    OLDER    QUINCY    MANSION. 


THE    BRACKETT    HOMESTEAD. 


.lOTYPE  PRINTING  CO.,    BOSTON. 


WHEELWRIGHT    CALLED    TO    THE    MOUNT.  17 

of  a  new  church  and  town  ripened  rapidly.     It  was  about 
a  month  after  Wheelwright  began  to  labor  here,  in  De- 
cember of  1636,  that  the  eight  persons  with  the  Governor 
at  tlieir  head  were  chosen  "  to  consider  of  Mount  Wollas- 
ton  business,  —  ho\y  there   may  be   a  church  and  town 
there."     At   this  time  Wheelwright  lodged,  perhaps,  as 
the  occasion  required,  in  Coddington's  house,  by  "  Mount 
Wollastone  River ; "  and  it  may  be  the  preaching  at  first 
was  done  in  the  same  place.^     But  now  the  minister  was 
to  have  an  estate  and  house  of  his  own.     In  the  February 
following,  Coddington  and  Wright  were  ordered  to  lay  out 
for  him   where  most  convenient,  "without  prejudice  to 
setting  up   of   a   town    there,"    two    hundred    and   fifty 
acres.     At  the  same  time  others  who  confided   in  him 
and  followed  him,  applied  for  and  received  allotments.^ 
The  Wheelwright  grant  started  with  forty  acres  in  the 
three-hill   marsh,  with   five  acres   for   house-lot    (where 
perhaps  the  old  Brackett  homestead  now  is),  and  two 
hundred  and  five  acres  at  the  end  of  it  extending  into 
the  country.     Here,    by  the   banks   of  "Town  Brook" 

1  That  Coddinjjton  tlien  liad  a  house  at  the  Mount  is  made  clear  by  what 
Lechford  records  in  his  Note  Book.  AVm.  Tyng,  who  subsequently  purchased 
the  Coddington  estate,  wants  to  lease  it  to  a  Mr.  Reade.  One  of  the  condi- 
tions is  that  Reade  shall  allow  Tyng  entertainment  when  he  visits  the  farm, 
"  and  at  these  times  he  shall  have  the  use  of  the  chamber  which  Mr.  Codding- 
ton used  to  lye  in  for  his  lodging."  There  was  also  a  large  barn.  The  build- 
ings were  situated  about  where  the  old  Quincy  mansion  is  on  Black's  Creek. 
The  stream  was  first  called  Mount  WoUaston  River,  then  Coddington's  Brook, 
next  Quincy's  Brook,  and  since,  after  every  occupant  of  the  historic  house 
there.  The  latest  appellation  is  Butler's  Brook.  This  home-lot  between 
brook  and  pond  and  near  tide-landing,  and  with  extensive  meadows  on  every 
hand,  was  the  prize  place  in  the  plantation. 

2  Among  these  Nicholas  Needham,  William  Wardwell,  a  servant  of  Edmund 
Quincy,  and  William  Cole  are  found  with  Wheelwright  when  he  went  to  Exeter. 

2 


18  THE    "  CHAPPEL    OF    EASE." 

running  through  "  the  heart "  of  the  settlement,  was 
his  farm ;  and  here  he  began  at  once  to  make  a  home 
for  wife  and  children,  and  to  root  himself  in  our  soil. 
Regularly  he  ministered  to  the  congregation  gathering 
about  him,  winning  the  confidence  of  his  people,  and 
working  together  with  them  to  establish  a  choice  com- 
munity. In  this  very  beginning  of  our  church  it  was,  for 
numbers,  quite  strong.  Besides  those  of  the  Mount  it  in- 
cluded, probably,  some  of  Dorchester's  people  living  this 
side  the  Neponset,  and  some  from  "Weymouth,  where  they 
too  "had  drunk  in  some  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  opin- 
ions." But  however  large,  it  was  not  yet  an  indepen- 
dent church ;  it  was  only  what  Lawyer  Lechford  called 
a  "  Chappel  of  Ease,  .  .  .  where  a  neighboring  minister 
or  brother  preacheth  and  exerciseth  prayer  every  Lord's 
day,"  the  people  still  members  of  Boston  church,  and 
as  sign  of  that  receiving  the  sacrament  there. 


SWOEDS    IN    a    sermon. 

On  a  fast,  kept  Jan.  19,  1636,  most,  it  may  be, 
went  to  Boston  to  "  receive."  At  all  events  their 
minister  was  there,  for  in  the  afternoon,  after  Mr. 
Cotton  had  preached  a  "  directive  "  sermon  on  recon- 
ciliation, "Mr.  Wheelwright  was  desired  by  the  church 
to  exercise  as  a  private  brother  by  way  of  prophecy." 
Whereupon  he  pushed  his  way  slowly  to  the  pulpit 
through  the  crowded  congregation  which  filled  Boston's 
primitive  meeting-house,  took  a  sermon  from  his  pocket 
and  spread  it  before  him.  Eager  and  alert  were  the 
faces   he   looked   upon.      Already   that   day   the   people 


SWORDS    IN   A   SEEMON.  19 

had  listened  to  two  long  discourses/  and   to  as  many 
prayers,  "unmerciful"  in  their  length,  as  the  unsympa- 
thetic Lechford  describes  them.     Still,  they  were  hungry 
to    hear    more   with    regard    to    the   controversy   which 
agitated  the  town,  and  were  in  strained  expectancy  of 
word  or  phrase  which,   according  to  their   bias,   would 
be   either    luminous   with    truth    or    dark    with    heresy. 
Wheelwright   felt    the    stimulus   of    the   occasion.      His 
sermon,  written  at  a  hint  that   it  would  be  called  for, 
he  preached  with  fervency.     Although  he  girded  vigor- 
ously against  "legalists,"  —  all  "  those  under  a  covenant 
of   works,"  —  he  was  wholly  unconscious  that    he    was 
uttering  anything   incendiary.     And   yet   no   other   ser- 
mon ever  preached   on  this   continent    has   had   such  a 
remarkable  effect.     Immediately  it  arrayed  "  legalists  " 
in  open  and  concerted  hostility  against  "' antinomians," 
and    brought    the    colony    to    the    very    verge    of    ruin. 
Read  that  sermon   carefully   and   you   will   see   it   is   a 
quite    sensible    production,  written    closely  to   the  occa- 
sion,   and   having   for   chief   exhortation    the    "keeping 
Christ  in  a  spiritual  way."     You  may  discern  a  thread 
of   fire  running  through  its   uncouth    phraseology;    but 
there  is  really  not  enough  flame   in   it    to    account   for 
the   great   conflagration  which  ensued.      To  be  sure  he 
says,  "  We  must  all   prepare  for  a  spiritual   combat ; " 
to   "keep   the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  the  children  of  God 
"ought  to  show  themselves  valiant;  they   should  have 
their   swords    ready;    they   must   fight,  and   fight    with 
spiritual  weapons."     Of  course  the  "swords"  are  figura- 
tive,  and   the  warfare  which  was  urged   a  wordy  one. 

1  Mercurius  Americanus,  p.  216,  in  C.  II.  Bell's  "Life  of  J.  Wheel wrio-ht." 


20  THE   "  CHAPPEL    OF    EASE." 

But  the  "legalists,"  affronted  anew  by  so  fearless  an 
arraignment  of  such  as  opposed  "  free  grace "  on  an 
occasion  so  notable,  and  alarmed  at  the  formidable  pro- 
portions to  which  the  new  movement  was  attaining, 
were  disposed  to  take  them  in  a  literal  sense.  Some- 
thing must  be  done  to  suppress  the  heresy.  As  Mr.  C. 
F.  Adams  the  younger  says,  "  they  greatly  needed  a 
scapegoat ;  and  a  scapegoat  they  found  ready  to  their 
hands  in  the  pastor  at  the  Mount." 

Wheelwright,  conscious  only  that  on  a  distinguished 
occasion  he  had  creditably  delivered  himself  in  duti- 
ful obedience  to  "an  over-ruling  conscience,"  returned 
quietly  to  his  labors  here.  Those  of  the  other  party 
were  active,  however ;  they  took  up  and  tossed  about 
the  martial  phrases  of  his  sermon,  wrought  themselves 
by  this  exercise  into  a  condition  to  proceed  to  extremi- 
ties, and  spread  among  themselves  "  a  silent  decree 
that  Wheelwright  was  to  be  disciplined."  Concerted 
action  brought  all  the  ministers  of  the  Bay  together 
at  the  next  meeting  of  the  General  Court,  March  9, 
1637.  It  was  nearly  all  the  colony  against  the  Boston 
congregation  and  the  congregation  at  the  Mount. 
Some  of  the  laity  in  Roxbury,  Dorchester,  Salem,  and 
other  towns  took  part  with  the  liberals,  but  to  a  man 
the  ministers  outside  of  Boston  and  the  Mount  were 
bitterly  antagonistic.  Reason  for  this  is  found  in  the 
fact  that  their  authority  as  a  class  seemed  questioned, 
and  their  plan  of  a  theocracy  seemed  imperilled.  Also, 
it  must  be  admitted,  that  many  of  them  were  abso- 
lutely bigoted  in  their  conservatism.  "  I  will  petition 
to   be   chosen   the   universal   idiot   of   the    world,"    said 


THE   INQUISITION   IN   NEW   ENGLAND.  21 

Ward  of  Ipswich,  "if  all  the  wits  under  the  heavens 
can  lay  their  heads  together  and  find  an  assertion 
worse  than  this,  —  that  men  ought  to  have  liberty  of 
their  conscience,  and  that  it  is  persecution  to  debar 
them  of  it."  Welde  of  Roxbury  and  Shepard  of  Cam- 
bridge had  no  words  to  express  their  condemnation  of 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  when  she  denied  the  resurrection  of 
the  body ;  and  when  she  avowed  the  belief,  now  held 
by  many  Christians  of  all  sects,  that  "  the  coming  of 
Christ  is  his  coming  to  us  in  union,"  Wilson  cried  out, 
"I  hold  this  opinion  to  be  dangerous  and  damnable, 
and  to  be  no  less  than  Sadduceeism  and  atheism,  and 
therefor  to  be  detested."  At  the  hands  of  such,  those 
of  liberal  opinion  would  fare  hard. 


THE    INQUISITION   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

Before  a  court  thus  constituted  in  the  majority  of  it 
Wheelwright  was  summoned.  The  doors  were  closed, 
and  he  was  called  upon  to  "satisfy  the  court  about 
some  passages  of  his  sermon  which  seemed  to  be  offen- 
sive." He  declined  to  give  answer  to  a  body  so  inqui- 
sitorial, and  a  petition  was  presented,  signed  by  more 
than  forty  members  of  the  Boston  church,  praying 
that  the  doors  be  opened.  The  petition  was  at  first 
ignored;  but  finally  the  doors  were  thrown  open,  and 
a  great  and  excited  assembly  filled  the  meeting-house. 
Again  the  sermon  was  produced,  and  it  was  charged 
that  Wheelwright  had  "inveighed  against  all  that 
walked  in  a  covenant  of  works,  had  called  them  anti- 
christs, and  had   stirred  up  the  people   against  them." 


22  THE    "  CHAPPEL    OF    EASE." 

He  justified  his  sermon,  and  stoutly  declared  that  if 
any  did  walk  in  a  covenant  of  works  them  he  did 
mean.  What  the  court  sought  to  prove  was  that 
Wheelwright's  words  w^ere  not  to  be  taken  in  a  gen- 
eral sense,  but  were  particularly  directed  against  his 
brother  ministers.  And  now  these  ministers  were  asked 
"  if  they  in  their  ministry  did  walk  in  such  a  way  ? " 
They  desired  a  season  to  consider  the  matter ;  but  as 
they  were  the  chief  prosecutors,  it  was  no  surprise 
when  they  uprose  in  the  full  company  of  them.  Cotton 
only  excepted,  and  with  one  voice  acknowledged  they 
did.  "  So  after  much  debate  the  court  adjudged  him 
guilty  of  sedition  and  also  of  contempt."  Coddington 
was  a  member  of  that  court,  and,  as  Mr.  C.  H.  Bell 
points  out,  has  left  his  testimony  that  he  and  Gov- 
ernor Vane  and  most  of  the  laymen  were  opposed  to 
the  condemnation  of  Wheelwright ;  "  but  the  priests 
got  two  of  the  magistrates  on  their  side,  and  so  got 
the  major  part  of  them."  Then  a  remonstrance,  entirely 
respectful  in  its  character,  was  signed  by  about  sixty 
of  the  Boston  laymen.  It  testified  to  Wheelwright's 
peaceful  and  spiritual  intentions.  The  most  the  court 
could  be  moved  to  do  was  to  defer  sentence  till  its 
next  session,  and  barely  restrained  itself  from  imitat- 
ing the  bishops  in  their  tyranny  and  silencing  their  vic- 
tim. He,  still  astonished  that  his  sermon  should  have 
been  so  ill-construed,  returned  to  his  labors  at  the  Mount, 
where,  nothing  subdued,  "  he  openly  protested  against 
the  errors  with  which  he  was  charged."^ 

The  General  Court  at  its  next  session.  May  17,  1637, 

1  Mercurius  Americanus,  p.  191,  in  C.  H.  Bell's  "Life  of  J.  Wheelwright." 


THE    INQUISITION    IN   NEW   ENGLAND.  23 

was  ordered  to  meet  at  New  Town,  now  Cambridge. 
Boston  too  entirely  sided  with  the  liberals  to  suit  the 
majority.  It  was  a  court  of  elections ;  but  before  pro- 
ceeding; with  that  business  Governor  Vane  and  others 
attempted  to  present  a  petition  in  behalf  of  Wheel- 
wright and  in  defence  of  liberty  of  speech.  Their 
hope  was  in  the  people,  and  in  their  sense  of  fair  play 
and  regard  for  the  freedom  of  Englishmen.  But  the 
"  priests "  were  out  in  force ;  Pastor  Wilson  climbed 
a  tree  and  harangued  the  multitude.  After  a  bitter 
struggle  the  liberal  party  was  defeated,  and  Vane  and 
Coddington  and  "  all  of  that  faction,"  wrote  Winthrop 
in  triumph,  "  were  left  quite  out."  As  there  was  soon 
to  be  a  fast  in  which  it  would  be  convenient  to  con- 
fer about  differences,  "the  court  gave  Wheelwright 
respite  to  the  next  session  in  August  to  bethink  him- 
self, that,  retracting  and  reforming  his  error,  the  court 
might  show  him  favor,  which  otherwise  he  must  not 
expect.  His  answer  was,  that  if  he  had  committed 
sedition  then  he  ought  to  be  put  to  death;  and  if  we 
did  mean  to  proceed  against  him,  he  meant  to  appeal 
to  the  King's  Court,  for  he  would  retract  nothing."  ^ 
On  May  24,  the  day  of  the  fast.  Vane  and  Codding- 
,ton,  to  emphasize  their  dissent  from  the  methods  of 
their  opponents,  ignored  the  Boston  assembly  and  its 
conference  and  kept  the  day  at  the  Mount  with  Mr. 
Wheelwright.  A  pleasant  memory  is  it  to  cherish,  that 
the  pure  and  high-minded  Sir  Harry  Vane,  —  a  hero 
unsurpassed  in  that  heroic  time,  the  fearless  and  far- 
seeing  statesman  of  the  Puritan  revolution,  —  found  in 

1  Winthrop,  i.  2G5. 


24  THE    "  CHAPPEL    OF    EASE." 

the  little  gathering  of  worshippers  at  the  Mount  the 
one  church  in  New  England  entirely  congenial  to  his 
broad  sympathies  and  tolerant  spirit !  No  doubt  the 
"  Chappel  of  Ease "  was  filled  that  day  with  the 
friends  of  light  and  liberty.  Stout  Deacon  Bass  of 
Roxbury  church  was  there,  perhaps,  with  others  of 
such  as  were  afterward  excommunicated  for  their 
opinions.  Perhaps  some  were  there  from  Weymoutli 
and  Dorchester.  At  all  events  it  was  a  notable  day  in 
our  ecclesiastical  history,  and  Wheelwright  had  hearers 
not  a  few. 

That  day  of  humiliation  had  no  peaceful  issue.  In- 
stead, the  strife  deepened  and  extended.  The  conserva- 
tives sat  in  the  seats  of  the  magistrates ;  and  when  in 
July  there  arrived  from  England  a  ship  in  which  were 
friends  of  the  liberals,  they  were  not  permitted  to  land. 
It  was  a  monstrous  act  of  injustice.  Not  knowing  to 
what  a  pass  affairs  had  come  in  the  colony,  these  peo- 
ple had  forsaken  their  pleasant  homes  and  come  to 
these  shores  for  peace  and  freedom.  To  their  surprise 
they  found,  instead,  an  oppression  as  harsh  as  that 
exercised  by  the  prelates,  and  a  reception  more  inhos- 
pitable than  that  of  the  rude  sea  to  which  they  were 
again  driven.  Cotton  was  so  grieved  that  he  was  minded 
to  leave  the  plantation.  Vane  in  an  outburst  of  indig- 
nation protested  against  the  outrage,  and  pleaded  for 
tolerance.  His  words  fell  upon  ears  deaf  to  everything 
but  what  "  is  usual  among  us,"  upon  hearts  hardened 
by  dogma.  Altogether  disappointed  he  returned  to 
England,  where  high  political  ideals  beckoned  him  on 
to  his  tragic  end. 


John  Quincy  Adams. 
BIRTHPLACES    OF    PRESIDENTS. 


WEBB     HOUSE. 
Taken  from   near  the  site  of  oldest  Stone  Church. 


Rear  View.  FfO"*  Viev 

RUGGLES    HOUSE,    1641. 

Now  occupied  by  Mr.  J.   H.  Adams  and   IVIiss  E.  C    Adams. 


.lOTYPE   PRINTING  CO..    BOSTON. 


THE    ITq^QUISITION    IN   NEW   ENGLAND.  25 

Relieved  of  his  presence,  the  ecclesiastical  machine  in 
all  its  ponderoiisness  and  solemnity  was  set  in  motion 
to  put  an  end  to  all  heresy.  A  synod  of  all  the 
churches,  the  first  of  its  kind  in  this  new  world,  met 
at  New  Town  (Cambridge)  the  30tli  of  August,  1637. 
For  three  weeks  it  sat  in  session,  raking  together 
all  the  "  erroneous  opinions "  which  partisanship  had 
charged  against  the  liberals.  They  were  found  to  be 
eighty  in  number,  to  say  nothing  of  "nine  unwhole- 
some expressions."  When  the  slander  and  the  gossip 
and  the  misunderstandings  were  abstracted  from  these, 
they  were  reduced  to  just  three  points  of  difference 
between  Wheelwright  and  the  rest  of  the  ministers. 
Nevertheless,  the  eighty  and  nine  opinions  and  expres- 
sions were  condemned;  Wheelwright  was  condemned, 
and  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  meetings  were  "  agreed  to  be 
disorderly  and  without  rule."  The  Boston  members, 
including  those  from  Mount  Wollaston,  calling  for  wit- 
nesses to  the  eighty  errors  and  the  names  of  such  as 
made  charges,  and  being  persistently  refused,  retired 
early  from  the  synod.  The  remainder  then  "carried 
on  matters  so  peaceably,  and  concluded  them  so  com- 
fortably in  love,"  to  use  Winthrop's  words,  that  they 
were  of  opinion  that  all  was  now  settled,  —  that  by  the 
resolution  of  a  synod  thinking  had  been  abolished,  and 
the  free  spirit  of  man  effectually  harnessed  to  dogma. 
"  But,"  laments  Winthrop,  "  it  fell  out  otherwise.  For 
though  Mr.  Wheelwright  and  those  of  his  party  had 
been  clearly  confuted  and  confounded,  yet  they  per- 
sisted in  their  opinions."  To  the  congregation  at  the 
Mount  its  minister  "continued  his  preaching  after  his 


26  THE    "  CHAPPEL    OF    EASE. 

former  manner."  Here  he  always  found  sympathy,  and 
to  a  right  understanding  of  his  doctrines  could  confi- 
dently appeal  at  a  later  day. 

THE    FIRST    MEETING-HOUSE    BUILT. 

It  was  at  this  time,  the  spring  and  summer  of  1637, 
that  the  first  meeting-house  for  worshippers  in  this 
place  was  built.  There  is  no  evidence  for  this,  but 
probability  favors  it.  The  meeting-house  is  a  recog- 
nized land-mark  when  the  town  records  begin  in  1640. 
The  energetic  Wheelwright  would  surely  do  his  utter- 
most to  have  a  place  in  which  to  shelter  his  congrega- 
tion; and  we  may  presume  that  his  prominent  parish- 
ioners who  were  looking  to  this  place  as  their  home, — 
Coddington,  Mrs.  Judith  Quincy,i  the  Hutchinsons,  Sar- 
gent Savage,  and  others,  —  would  ably  second  his  efforts. 
The  house  was  situated  just  to  the  south  of  the  bridge 
which  then  crossed  Town  River  on  the  highway  to 
Weymouth  and  Plymouth.  It  was  solidly  built  of 
stone,  —  whether  for  defence  against  the  Indians  or  as 
evidence  of  the  deliberate  purpose  and  settled  feelings 
of  those  who  were  to  occupy  it,  we  cannot  tell.  At 
all  events  it  was,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  first  stone 
meeting-house  built  in  New  England.  For  a  hundred 
years  it  served  the  religious  and  civic  occasions  of  the 
town,  and  was  then  superseded  by  the  house  built  in 
1732,  under  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  John  Hancock. 

1  Edmund  Quincy  died  in  1635,  leaving  a  widow  and  two  children  "in  the 

wilderness." 


LIBERALS   DISARMED   AND    BANISHED.  27 

After  the  synod,  religious  matters  could  not  be  left 
in  their  unsettled  state,  —  Mrs.  Hutchinson  still  expound- 
ing at  Boston,  and  Wheelwright  preachmg  other  offen- 
sive sermons  at  the  Mount.  For  two  months  more 
they  were  tolerated ;  and  then  when  the  court  met  in 
November  it  was  decisively  resolved  to  uproot  all 
heresy,  swiftly  and  thoroughly. 

LIBERALS    DISARMED    AND    BANISHED. 

No  Star  Chamber  ever  flung  bolt  more  ruthless  than 
that  which  was  now  hurled  by  ''  saints  against  saints." 
The  sentence  hanging  over  the  head  of  Wheelwright  was 
let  fall;  he  was  disfranchised  and  banished.  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson was  banished.  Then  the  sixty  leading  men  of 
Boston  who  had  mildly  remonstrated  that  Wheelwright 
was  peaceful  and  guiltless  of  sedition,  were  treated  as 
criminals,  all  of  them  disarmed,  and  the  more  prominent 
banished  also.  The  excuse  for  this  act  of  tyranny  was 
that  the  magistrates  feared  an  uprising.  They  had 
indeed,  through  their  injustice,  cause  to  fear  it ;  yet 
no  liberal  of  them  all  ever  made  the  least  show  of 
violence,  and  with  one  exception  none  of  them  ever 
exhibited  any  loose  behavior.  In  the  turbulent  history 
of  religion  it  was  once  more  the  resort  to  force  of 
a  stronger  party,  to  rid  itself  of  those  differing  from 
it  in  opinion.  The  churches  followed  up  the  banish- 
ments by  excommunicating  all  their  members  who  had 
manifested  independence  or  liberality.  It  was  winter- 
time, and  the  snow  lay  deep ;  but  scourged  by  the  op- 
pressor, some  of  the  worthiest  of  those  who  sought  here 


28  THE    "  CHAPPEL    OF   EASE." 

a  haven  of  rest  must  face  once  more  the  wilderness. 
Wheelwright,  the  fearless  preacher  of  '^  Christ  in  the 
life;"  Coddington,  the  independent  and  able  counsellor; 
John  Coggeshall.  stout  of  heart  and  outspoken;  the 
Hutchinsons,  all  of  them  high-minded  and  truth-loving, 
—  these  and  others  must  leave  the  homes  they  had 
founded  in  hope  and  affection,  their  property  sacrificed, 
or  actually  confiscated.  "  Because  it  was  winter,"  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  was  not  immediately  driven  forth,  but  was 
put  in  the  keeping  of  her  enemies,  who  tortured  her  with 
questions,  confutations,  and  censures.  She  was  alone,  and 
entirely  at  their  mercy.  Her  husband  and  her  stanch- 
est  friends  were  in  Rhode  Island,  negotiating  for  the 
purchase  from  the  Indians  of  Acquidneck.  Even  her 
pastor,  John  Cotton,  for  whose  ministrations  she  had 
crossed  the  ocean,  deserted  her,  and  "  admonished  her 
with  much  zeal  and  detestation  of  her  errors."  After 
trying  her  at  two  church-meetings,  during  which  Welde 
and  Shepard  and  Wilson  and  other  ministers  displayed 
their  skill  in  ensnaring,  browbeating,  and  confusing  her 
whom  in  contempt  they  called  "  but  a  woman,"  she  was 
solemnly  excommunicated,  —  in  set  words  delivered  up 
to  Satan,  and  "  in  the  name  of  Christ  commanded  as  a 
leper  to  withdraw  herself  out  of  the  congregation."  So 
the  weary  woman  before  the  winter  had  quite  gone,  in 
the  spring  of  1638,  "  went  by  water  to  her  farm  at  the 
Mount,"  and  then  "by  land  to  Providence,  and  so  to 
the  island  in  the  Narragansett  Bay  which  her  husband 
and  the  rest  of  that  sect  had  purchased  of  the  Indians." 
Further  we  might  follow  her,  and  tell  of  her  wander- 
ings and   of  her  tragic  death  at  the  hands  of  the  sav- 


LIBERALS    DISARMED    AND    BANISHED.  29 

ages;  but  it  pertains  not  to  our  history,  and  is  all  sad 
enough. 

Wheelwright  had  been  given  fourteen  days  in  which 
he  was  to  settle  his  affairs  and  leave  the  colony.  Upon 
his  own  request  he  was  dismissed  to  his  family  at  the 
Mount,  his  parishioner,  Atherton  Hough,  becoming  bonds- 
man for  him.  Here  in  his  own  home,  and  surrounded 
by  sympathizing  friends,  he  prepared  for  his  departure. 
Others  also  were  going,  and  there  was  much  sad  work 
and  sorrowful  parting  to  do.  On  the  last  Sunday  before 
he  went  he  gathered  his  little  congregation  once  more 
about  him,  and  preached  his  farewell  sermon.  It  is  on 
record  that  he  retracted  nothing,  and  even  more  sturdily 
than  ever  defended  himself  against  unjust  charges,  and 
expounded  his  ideal  puritanism.  It  was  the  last  sermon 
he  ever  preached  at  tlie  Mount;  it  was  the  last  to  be 
preached  in  the  little  church  there  for  some  time. 

Leaving  his  wife  and  children.  Wheelwright  set  out 
with  some  voluntary  exiles  of  his  flock  for  Pascataway, 
the  coast  region  of  what  is  now  New  Hampshire.  It  was 
bitter  cold,  and  the  snow  lay  unusually  deep,  so  that  as 
he  afterward  declared,  it  was  marvellous  he  got  thither 
at  all.  There  he  and  his  companions  from  the  Mount, 
together  with  some  who  came  in  that  ship  whose  passen- 
gers were  refused  a  landing,  bought  a  large  tract  of  coun- 
try of  the  Indians,  laid  the  foundations  of  the  important 
settlement  of  Exeter,  New  Hampshire,  and  established  the 
first  church  of  it.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  had  intended  to  join 
him  there,  and  she  was  to  sail  from  the  Mount  with  his 
wife  and  children ;  but  as  we  have  seen,  she  and  her 
husband  eventually  threw  in   their  lot  with  the  Rhode 


30  THE    "CHAPPEL    OF    EASE." 

Island  exiles.  And  now  in  this  same  spring  of  1638 
Wheelwright's  wife  with  her  children  and  his  mother, 
accompanied  by  other  families  of  the  pioneers,  left  to  join 
their  husbands  in  the  new  plantation  in  the  north. 

THE    LIBERAL   PARTY    CHARACTERIZED. 

So  with  a  heavy  hand  the  "  Chappel  of  Ease  "  at  the 
Mount  was  abolished.  For  the  second  time  the  sterner 
spirit  of  the  Puritan  lifted  itself  in  anger  against  this 
place,  and  for  the  second  time  its  inhabitants  were  swept 
away.  The  exodus  from  the  Mount  was  large  and  im- 
portant, those  cast  out  being  since  reckoned  among  the 
honorable  founders  of  two  such  considerable  places  as 
Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and  Exeter,  New  Hampshire. 
We  have  ever  since  suffered  from  the  loss ;  and  the  in- 
jury done  the  entire  colony  by  the  rough  discomfiture 
and  banishment  of  these  sincere  discij)les  of  light  and  lib- 
erty cannot  be  measured.  They  were  taking  the  next 
step  in  the  logical  development  of  the  faith  of  the  Re- 
formers. The  ministers  were  content  to  stay  with  what 
was  "usually  held  among  them;"  the  "authority  of  the 
Scriptures"  was  wholly  in  the  interpretations  they  had 
already  made.  With  this  persuasion  Puritanism  was  a 
closed  thing,  incapable  of  progress  and  prone  to  perse- 
cution. But  in  the  Wheelwright  party  was  the  manifes- 
tation of  growth.  They  were  not  only  open  to  new 
thoughts,  but  were  advocates  of  the  freedom  of  thought 
itself.  The  right  of  free  speech,  the  principle  of  tolera- 
tion, the  privilege  of  every  man  to  do  his  own  thinking 
and  his  own  interpreting,  —  these  are  the  things  which 


THE    LIBERAL    PAETY    CHAEACTERIZED.  31 

break  in  light  from  the  darkness  of  that  controversy. 
Do  not  think  that  those  sensible,  those  intelligent  lay- 
men of  Boston  church  and  other  churches  in  the  Bay 
were  carried  away  with  some  fanciful  doctrine  no  one 
now  cares  about.  No,  it  was  not  that.  Though  the  new 
ideas  appealed  to  their  mind  and  conscience,  what  most 
profoundly  stirred  them  was  the  assault  upon  the  dearly 
cherished  freedom  of  Englishmen.  They  demanded  fair 
play,  they  resisted  tyranny.  Much  as  they  revered  their 
ministers  they  could  not  endure  their  dictum  that  it  was 
"  corrupt  judgment  and  practice  "  to  question  what  min- 
ister or  magistrate  said  or  did.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  pre- 
cisely expressed  their  sentiments,  when  she  said  in  her 
defence  that  "  it  was  never  in  her  heart  to  slight  any 
man,  but  only  that  man  should  be  kept  in  his  own  place 
and  not  set  in  the  room  of  God." 

THEY    "  STILL    LIVE  !  " 

The  class  which  presumed  to  lift  itself  '^  in  the  room 
of  God"  had  its  way;  the  advocates  of  individual  free- 
dom were  suppressed.  We  cherish  the  conviction,  how- 
ever, that  not  in  vain  they  strove  against  tyranny.  We 
love  to  think  that  in  this  church,  especially,  their  influ- 
ence is  still  potent.  To  make  this  plain,  what  can  I  do 
better  than  to  quote  the  words  of  Charles  F.  Adams  the 
younger,  from  whom  I  have  already  obtamed  so  much? 

"  Since  its  foundation  this  parish,"  he  writes,  "  has  shown 
always  a  noticeable  leaning  toward  a  liberal  theology.  It  was 
never  Orthodox.  In  this  respect  it  was  in  sharp  contrast  with 
its  sister  church  of  the  Middle  Precinct,  and  the  ministers  of 
the  two,  never  changing  sides,  more  than  once  engaged  in  sharp 


32  THE    "  CHAPPEL    OF    EASE." 

doctrinal  controversy.  And  so  each  successive  pastor  influenced 
the  people,  and  the  tendency  of  the  people  operated  back  in  the 
selection  of  pastors,  until  the  old  order  of  things  passed  wholly 
away.  It  is  therefore  no  improbable  surmise,  that  a  little 
leaven  in  this  case  also  leavened  the  whole  lump ;  the  seed  sown 
by  Wheelwright  in  1637  bore  its  fruit  in  the  great  New  Eng- 
land protest  of  two  centuries  later,  when,  under  the  lead  of 
Channing,  the  descendants  in  the  seventh  generation  of  those 
who  had  listened  to  tlie  first  pastor  at  the  Mount  broke  away 
finally  and  forever  from  the  religious  tenets  of  the  Puritans."  ^ 

Assent  we  readily  to  all  that ;  and  may  we  not  also 
surmise  that  civil  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  history  is  in- 
debted, in  the  development  of  its  higher  and  ideal  prin- 
ciples, to  this  early  infusion  of  the  spirit  of  independence 
and  respect  for  soul  liberty  ?  Into  what  other  ancient 
church  of  all  the  land  has  there  been  born  so  great  a 
number  of  notable  men  with  an  even  instinctive  hatred 
of  oppression  and  love  of  freedom  ?  "We  need  not  recite 
their  names  or  their  deeds,  —  they  shine  with  seven-fold 
light  in  the  splendor  of  our  greatest  national  achieve- 
ments. We  cannot  stop  to  praise  them ;  but  they  sum- 
mon us  to  present  duty,  and  to  exercise  the  privilege 
of  honoring  our  high  traditions  by  loyalty  to  truth  and 
consecration  to  right.  Before  us  is  liberty  more  glorious 
than  even  the  fathers  conceived,  and  an  application  of 
the  laws  of  justice  more  sympathetic  and  comprehensive 
than  the  world  has  yet  witnessed.  Toward  that,  and  not 
to  the  past,  turn  we  our  faces.  "  I  think  the  soul  to  be 
nothing  but  light,"  said  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  The  light  is 
exhaustless.  May  it  with  endless  shining  break  forth 
in  the  faith  and  the  works  of  this  ancient  church ! 

^  Sketch  of  Quincy,  p.  275  ;  History  of  Norfolk  Co. 


11. 

THE   CHURCH   OF   STATESMEN. 

The  glokt  of  this  latter  house  shall  be  greater  than  that 
OF  the  former,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts  :  and  in  this  place 

WILL    I    GIVE    PEACE,  SAITH    THE    LORD    OF    HOSTS. Haggai   11.    9. 

"  I  ^HE  sermon  preached  last  Sunday  was  intended  to  set 
-*-  before  you  the  exciting  events  which  preceded  the 
"embodying"  of  this  churchy  and  so  was  a  preparation 
for  the  interesting  commemorative  exercises  in  which 
we  are  this  day  to  take  part.  You  will  remember  that 
for  exactly  one  year,  —  that  is,  from  November,  1636,  to 
November,  1637,  —  the  Rev.  John  Wheelwright  labored 
with  the  "  Chappel  of  Ease  "  which  was  gathered  in  this 
place.  Then  when  Wheelwright  and  his  friends  were 
banished,  and  many  others  had  gone  with  them  into  vol- 
untary exile,  it  was  as  though  no  band  of  worshippers 
had  ever  come  together  here  to  listen  to  the  "  Word  " 
and  to  join  in  singing  the  sacred  psalms.  The  church 
at  the  Mount  was  effectually  abolished.  And  we  hear 
nothing  of  a  concerted  movement  to  gather  again  a 
church  till  the  16th  of  September,  1639.  For  a  year 
and  ten  months  no  sufficient  number  of  the  inhabitants 
felt  enough  in  heart  to  attempt  a  new  organization. 
The  natural  leaders  of  the  people  were  gone,  and  those 
of  the  liberal  party  who  remained  were  sullen  and 
resentful. 

3 


34  THE    CHURCH    OF    STATESME^f. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  there  was 
entire  stagnation  at  the  Mount.  During  this  time  there 
was  a  great  shifting  of  population  and  a  great  change 
in  the  proprietorship  of  lands.  The  banished  and  the 
exiled  were  selling  their  estates  as  rapidly  as  they  could 
to  those  pressing  this  way  from  Boston  and  from  over 
sea.  Coddington's  lands  w^ere  bought  at  a  bargain  by 
Capt.  William  Tyng,  a  Boston  merchant,  who  sold  them 
over  again  ;  and  John  Wheelwright  disposed  of  his  "  great 
possessions  "  at  a  sacrifice  we  may  well  believe.  But  the 
new  influx  mingling  with  the  "  remnant "  infused  into 
the  settlement  a  more  vigorous  life.  These  later  immi- 
grants, some  of  whom  most  likely  were  passengers  in 
"  the  great  store  of  ships  "  which  arrived  at  Boston  in 
1638,  had  no  vital  interest  in  the  recent  controversy, 
and  were  prepared  to  go  forward  in  the  course  usual 
with  prospering  plantations. 

FIRST    CHURCH    GATHERED. 

So  on  Monday,  the  16th  day  of  September,  1639,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Mount  assembled  to  enter  solemnly 
into  new  church  relations.^     The  enterprise,  however,  has 

1  The  Rev.  Mr.  Hancock  in  his  sermons  preached  "Sept.  16,  1739,  on  com- 
pleting the  first  century  since  the  gathering  of  "  the  First  Church,  is  very  careful 
to  state  explicitly  several  times  that  our  fathers  were  "  embodied  in  a  church- 
state  here  this  day  an  hundred  years  ago."  Then  in  a  note  he  furthermore 
says,  "  The  church  was  gathered  on  Monday,  Sept.  16,  1639."  It  is  some  con- 
firmation of  this,  were  it  needed,  that  "Sept.  16,  1639,  was  Monday,"  as  Dr. 
George  E.  Ellis  assures  me.  When  Mr.  Hancock  wrote  his  sermons  he  had  in 
his  possession  our  oldest  book  of  records,  now  lost.  After  amending  a  later 
record  by  writing  "  16  "  where  some  one  had  written  "  Sept.  17,"  he  gives  a 
short  account  of  the  renewal  of  the  covenant  at  the  centennial  anniversary 


FIRST    CHURCH    GATHERED.  35 

a  look  as  though  it  were  suddenly  conceived,  as  though 
indeed  it  had  been  talked  over  "  after  meeting  "  in  Bos- 
ton the  day  before,  and  that  then  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment  ministers  Tompson  and  Flynt  had  come  to  the 
determination  that  the  almost  shepherdless  sheep  of  this 
pasture  should  forthwith  be  more  conveniently  provided 
for.  These  two  ministers  were  peculiarly  fitted  to  or- 
ganize a  church  here.  Mr.  William  Tompson  was  then 
a  recent  arrival  in  the  colony.  He  shared  none  of  the 
bitterness  toward  liberals  which  had  been  harbored  by 
his  brother  ministers  in  the  antinomian  conflict,  and  was 
prepared  to  act  the  pacificator  in  a  kindly  and  charitable 
spirit.  His  companion,  Mr.  Henry  Flynt,  was  by  disposi- 
tion and  open  confession  even  more  delicately  adapted  to 
the  situation.  He  was  himself  of  the  liberal  party,  and  at 
that  very  time  was  under  censure  for  signing  the  petition 
in  behalf  of  Wheelwright.  It  was  at  the  call  of  such 
sympathetic  leadership  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Mount 
came  together  once  more  to  form  a  church  of  their  own. 
They  were  all  there,  men  and  women,  their  profound  in- 
terest in  the  occasion  appearing  in  their  solemn  deport- 
ment and  subdued  conversation.  But  not  many  of  them 
then  entered  into  church  relations.  Seven  had  come  to 
be  considered  about  the  proper  number  with  which  to 
begin  a  church.  And  so  only  six,  with  the  two  ministers, 
actively  participated  in  the  important  work.  These  six, 
—  George  Rose,  Stephen  Kinsley,  John  Dassett,  William 

"on  September  16th,  being  the  Lord's  day,  1739,"  ending  with  these  words: 
"  See  Ch.  Govt,  among  ye  Records  of  this  Church."  That  covenant  now  exists 
only  in  the  copy  he  printed  with  his  centennial  discourses.  Add  ten  days  to 
change  from  old  to  new  style  would  make  September  26  the  proper  date  of  our 
anniversary. 


36  THE    CHURCH    OF    STATESMEN. 

Potter,  Martin  Saunders  the  tavern-keeper,  and  Gregory 
Belcher,  —  new  men  mostly  and  small  farmers,  separated 
themselves  from  the  rest  of  the  congregation  as  those 
on  the  whole  most  free  in  their  conscience  and  best 
fitted  by  their  orthodoxy  to  begin  so  weighty  a  busi- 
ness. Then,  as  was  the  fashion,  they  confessed  their 
sins  one  to  another,  made  profession  of  their  faith,  were 
consecrated  by  prayer,  and  in  right  brotherly  way  stood 
up  before  the  assembly  and  gave  one  another  in  solemn 
covenant  the  hand  of  fellowship. 

After  this  manner  was  the  church  founded.  It  should 
have  been  an  occasion  of  pious  gladness,  but  there  is  to 
be  detected  running  through  the  proceedings  a  feeling  of 
constraint.  In  the  covenant  not  only  do  they  designate 
themselves  by  such  usual  phrases  as  "  poor  unworthy 
creatures,"  but  they  seem  really  troubled  about  "  all  the 
remnants  of  anti-Christian  pollution  wherein  sometimes 
we  have  walked."  They  were  trying,  some  of  them,  to 
be  properly  sorry  for  their  heresies,  and  to  feel  a  due 
amount  of  contrition.  This  was  notably  the  case  with 
minister  Flynt,  who  could  not  be  brought  to  acknowledge 
his  error  till  some  eight  months  later  than  this.  With- 
out doubt  there  were  many  in  that  assembly  who,  like 
him,  were  straining  their  conscience  to  conclude  they  had 
been  in  the  wrong,  and  to  bring  themselves  into  agree- 
ment with  the  prevailing  theology.  These  were  in  suffi- 
cient numbers,  notwithstanding  recent  additions,  to  give 
tone  to  the  proceedings  and  character  to  the  new-formed 
church.  It  was  in  their  minds,  also,  that  the  loss  of  their 
chief  men  was  a  sad  blow  to  the  prosperity  of  the  settle- 
ment.    Winthrop  unconsciously  draws  attention  to  this. 


FIRST    MINISTERS   AND    DEACONS.  37 

He  and  others,  "when  it  was  first  proposed  to  establish  an 
independent  church  at  the  Mount,  were  loath  to  give  any 
encouragement  because  so  many  "  chief  men  "  would  be 
withdrawn  from  Boston.  Now,  in  writing  of  the  found- 
ing of  our  church  in  this  September  of  1639,  he  puts 
down  not  a  word  about  "  chief  men,"  but  only  that 
"  many  poor  men  "  petitioned  to  have  a  church.  What 
is  done  at  the  Mount  is  of  so  little  concern  now  to  Boston 
that  Winthrop  does  not  remember  accurately  the  day 
when  the  church  was  gathered,  nor  the  day  when  Tompson 
was  ordained. 


FIRST    MINISTERS    AND    DEACONS. 

Accepting  the  Rev.  John  Hancock  for  best  authority 
(he  was  very  careful  what  he  wrote,  and  had  before 
him  Teacher  Flynt's  record),  we  find  that  Tompson 
was  ordained  pastor  eight  days  after  the  church  was 
gathered ;  that  is,  Tuesday,  the  24th  of  September, 
1639.  Who  the  elders  officiating  at  this  ordination 
were  we  do  not  know ;  but  whoever  they  were  they 
would  not  at  the  same  time  ordain  Henry  Flynt  as 
teacher.  He  had  not  made  his  submission  yet.  But 
the  grave,  conscientious  young  man  (he  was  now  about 
thirty-two  years  old)  at  last  avowed  that  he  would  peti- 
tion to  have  his  name  blotted  out  from  the  paper  writ- 
ten in  defence  of  Wheelwright;  and  so,  on  the  17th 
of  March  following,  he  too  was  set  over  this  church  as 
one  of  its  ministers.  His  petition  was  granted  by  the 
court  the  same  day  —  May  13,  1640  —  it  granted  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Mount   liberty  to  incorporate  them- 


38  THE    CHUKCH    OF    STATESMEN. 

selves  as  the  town  of  Brain  tree.  I  cannot  but  think 
it  was  similarity  of  belief  which  drew  Henry  Flynt  to 
the  Mount.  He  was  still  liberal  for  all  his  recanta- 
tion;  the  broad  mind  and  the  tolerant  spirit  were 
there,  however  pious  his  .submission.  Thus  the  church 
continued  to  be  an  undogmatic,  a  progressive  congre- 
gation, with  one  minister,  at  least,  entirely  sympathetic. 
Evidence  of  this  I  seem  to  see  in  the  first  choice  for 
deacon  of  Samuel  Bass,  who  had  been  fined  five  pounds 
"for  contempt"  about  the  time  of  the  banishment  of 
Wheelwright  ;^  in  "  the  desire  of  the  church  of  Christ 
at  Mount  Wollaston  that  Alexander  Winchester,"^  Mr. 
Vane's  man,  be  dismissed  from  Boston  church  for  their 
help  also  in  the  office  of  deacon ;  and  in  the  fact  that 
some  of  Mount  Wollaston  continued  to  "  receive "  at 
Boston,  as  though  affairs  here  were  not  entirely  satis- 
factory to  them.^  Mr.  Tompson  may  have  been  just 
as  liberal-minded  as  his  colleague,  but  I  speak  espe- 
cially of  Mr.  Flynt  because  he  sustained  a  closer  and 
more  constant  relation  with  our  church.  The  country 
generally  seemed  to  conclude  that  one  minister  was 
enough  for  us,  and  made  three  several  attempts  to 
divert  our  pastor  to  other  duties.  The  ministers  of 
the  colony,  in  prayerful  session,  selected  him  and  an- 
other to  journey  to  Virginia  and  supply  the  means  of 
grace  to  such  as  could  not  find  it  in  the  ministrations 
of  the  Church  of  England.  He  preached  with  power 
and  influenced  many ;   but  the  "  Old   Dominion "   soon 

1  Records  of  the  General  Court,  Dec.  4,  1638. 

2  Boston  First  Church  Records,  July  12,  1640. 

*  Lechford's  Plaine  Dealing,  p.  41,  and  note  by  J.  H.  Trumbull. 


FIRST    MINISTERS    AND    DEACONS.  39 

drove  him  out,  being  as  intolerant  of  Puritans  as 
Massachusetts  was  of  Episcopalians.  It  might  be  in- 
teresting to  speculate  upon  the  probable  course  of  the 
history  of  Virginia  if  the  independency  and  moral  ear- 
nestness of  the  New  England  churches  had  obtained  at 
that  time  a  strong  and  permanent  hold  upon  the  hearts  of 
the  people  there.  But  I  must  not  be  tempted  aside  ;  I 
would  only  interject  the  remark  that  thus  early  Brain- 
tree  began  to  regard  Southern  affairs.  Hardly  had 
Tompson  returned  from  this  missionary  journey  when 
he  was  chosen  to  accompany  the  army  in  the  threat- 
ened war  with  the  Narragansetts.  He  was  to  blow  a 
silver  trumpet  before  the  host,  and  preach  the  word  to 
them.  Of  "  tall,  comely  presence,"  quite  military  look- 
ing, and  also  quite  brave  and  obedient  to  all  calls  of 
duty,  he  would  have  acquitted  himself  well.  But  the 
war  did  not  break  out,  and  he  returned  to  his  pastoral 
charge.  Then  in  1648  he  was  invited  to  settle  over 
the  church  Wheelwright  had  founded  in  Exeter,  N.  H. 
That  gentleman,  fearing  the  advancing  power  of  the 
Massachusetts  government,  had  fled  to  Wells.  The  offer 
made  to  Tompson  was  liberal,  —  thirty  pounds  a  year, 
the  profits  of  the  town  saw-mill,  and  the  use  of  the 
house  and  land  bought  of  Wheelwright.  But  Tompson 
resisted  the  temptation.  What  led  those  of  Exeter, 
one  wonders,  to  send  for  Tompson  ?  Was  it  because 
of  what  friends  here  wrote  to  the  former  dwellers  at 
the  Mount  there  ?  Did  they  recommend  him  as  a  wor- 
thy successor  of  Wheelwright  ?  We  can  only  guess ; 
at  all  events,  the  church  in  Braintree  prospered  under 
the  ministration  of  its  pastor  and  teacher,  and  all  its 


40  THE    CHURCH    OF    STATESMEN. 

aspirations,  liberal  or  other,  seemed  satisfied.  These 
ministers  passed  away,  —  Tompson  in  1666,  Fljnt  in 
1668, — leaving  behind  them  the  sweet  remembrance  of 
their  gravity,  integrity,  purity,  and  holiness.  Of  their 
wives  the  least  to  be  said  is  that  they  bequeathed  to 
this  parish  the  names  Abigail  and  Dorothy,  which  since 
have  been  so  highly  honored. 

STILL   "the    sour    LEVEN    OF    THOSE    SINFUL    OPINIONS." 

A  liberal  party  vigorously  manifested  itself  in  the 
choice  for  successors  of  its  first  ministers.  This  party 
was  for  calling  the  Rev.  Josiah  Flynt,  son  of  their  late 
lamented  teacher.  Opposition  was  made  on  the  ground 
that  the  candidate  had  uttered  "  divers  dangerous  het- 
erodoxies, delivered,  and  that  without  caution,  in  his 
public  preaching."  Many  meetings  were  had  about  it, 
with  ''  very  uncomfortable  debates "  and  "  awful  divi- 
sions." The  liberals  so  far  prevailed  as  to  elect  Mr. 
Flynt  and  a  Mr.  Bulkeley ;  but  as  the  ballot  was  not 
single  and  the  quarrelling  had  been  bitter,  neither 
would  accept,  and  for  four  years  the  distracted  church 
continued  without  a  settled  minister.  "  The  disorders 
among  us,"  wrote  one  of  our  members  on  a  subsequent 
occasion,  "  call  for  tears  and  lamentations,  rather  than 
to  be  remembered."  This  is  very  true ;  and  they  are 
mentioned  now  only  to  make  it  plain  that  in  this 
early  period  of  our  church's  history  there  was  no  lack 
of  mental  vigor  and  the  manifestation  of  an  indepen- 
dent spirit.  The  very  earnestness  of  the  dispute  and 
its  long  continuance  is  evidence  that  these  forefathers 


THE    FIRST    MEETING-HOUSE    DESCRIBED.  41 

of  ours  had  strong  convictions.  Their  religion  was  a 
vital  thing  to  them,  and  entirely  possessed  their  hearts 
and  minds.  Characteristic  of  the  church  from  the  earli- 
est times  has  been  its  stubborn  strength,  its  faithful- 
ness to  its  ideals,  its  self-reliance,  its  almost  rude 
directness.  These  founders  of  our  town  were  no  lovers 
of  smooth  words  and  compromises.  "  Poor  men  "  they 
might  be  in  estate,  but  without  question  they  were 
rich  in  mental  power  and  tenacious  moral  strength. 
They  stand  forth  as  marked  examples  of  the  plain, 
blunt,  serious,  conscientious  English  Puritan,  of  the  tol- 
erant Miltonic  sort,  sure  of  his  ground,  vigorous  in  the 
defence  of  it,  yet  with  face  toward  the  larger  view  and 
broader  principle.  And  in  the  history  of  this  church, 
almost  typical  in  its  natural  gradations,  is  the  develop- 
ment of  religious  belief  and  moral  conviction  through 
wider  statements  and  more  liberal  tendencies. 


THE  FIRST  Meeting-house  described. 

The  scene  of  these  earlier  religious  adjustments  was 
the  first  meeting-house  built  by  the  settlers,  the  square 
stone  structure  which  was  situated  in  the  middle  of  what 
is  now  Hancock  Street,  a  little  to  the  north  of  its  junc- 
tion with  Canal  Street.  There,  on  the  tongue  of  land 
which  rose  above  the  Town  River  swamps  to  the  east  and 
west  of  it,  the  little  building  was  conspicuous.  I  ima- 
gine it  was  in  shape  like  the  old  Hingham  church,  —  a 
platform  rising  from  the  apex  of  the  roof,  on  which  at 
a  later  day  swung  a  bell.  Near  the  church,  and  erected 
almost  as  early,  were  the  schoolhouse  and  the  tavern,  in- 


42  THE    CHURCH    OF    STATESMEN. 

stitutions  having  effects  how  opposite !  This  place  was 
indeed  the  town  centre,  with  its  little  square,  or  common. 
The  main  road  from  Plymouth  to  Boston  ran  through  it, 
dividing  when  it  came  to  the  meeting-house,  passing  by 
each  end  of  it  and  uniting  again  just  above  the  "  meeting- 
house bridge  "  over  the  Town-River.  The  Webb  house  in 
which  Mr.  Jones  now  lives  in  the  "  hollow  "  is  the  only 
one  left  of  those  which  formerly  stood  near  the  meeting- 
house in  the  town  square.  It  was  certainly  built  before 
the  year  1700,  it  may  even  have  been  occupied  by  Parson 
Tompson,  and  faced  toward  the  square  on  the  line  of 
the  road  as  it  diverged  to  the  eastward  to  go  around  the 
meeting-house. 

The  church  was  entered  by  a  door  at  the  east  end,  and 
very  likely  by  another  at  the  west  end.  The  pulpit,  as 
I  conjecture,  was  situated  against  the  south  wall,  and 
on  either  side  of  it  running  entirely  around  the  building 
were  galleries.  In  front  of  the  pulpit  were  the  deacons' 
seats,  where  Samuel  Bass,  Richard  Brackett,  Benjamin 
Saville,  and  other  worthies  "held  out  the  box"  to  receive 
the  regular  Sunday  contribution  as  the  congregation 
flocked  up  and  filed  past.  The  seats  for  the  worshippers 
were  at  first  plain,  rude  benches  in  two  rows,  —  the  women 
occupying  one  row,  the  men  the  other.  There  was  also 
the  women's  gallery  and  the  men's  gallery.  The  "  seat- 
ing the  meeting-house," — that  is,  the  assigning  to  per- 
sons the  sixteen  or  eighteen  inches  of  plank  they  were 
to  occupy  for  the  year,  —  was  always  a  delicate  task,  and 
sometimes  occasioned  heart-burnings.  Social  rank  and 
moral  worth  and  age  were  generally  considered,  but 
money  could  not  buy  the  best  places  as  now.     Free  seats 


THE    FIRST    MEETING-HOUSE    DESCRIBED.  43 

and  a  certain  equality  before  the  Lord  was  the  accepted 
rule.  The  pew  system  was  introduced  the  15th  of  Janu- 
ary, 1700  (to  be  precise).  Then  Capt.  John  Wilson  was 
granted  liberty  to  make  a  pew  in  some  convenient  place. 
He  built  his  little  pen  in  the  back  part  of  the  meeting- 
house against  the  wall ;  then  Minister  Fiske  built  his  by 
the  east  window ;  next,  Col.  Edmund  Quincy  built  his 
by  the  side  of  Mr.  Wilson's.  And  so  they  added  pew 
to  pew,  till  the  walls  of  the  church  all  around  were  pos- 
sessed by  them.  Only  one  part  of  the  walls  had  neither 
gallery  nor  pew  against  it.  This  was  the  space  above 
the  pulpit.  Then  it  was  voted  (I  think  it  is  with  re- 
gard to  this  earliest  church)  that  a  certain  prominent 
personage  "  might  build  him  a  pew  over  the  pulpit,  pro- 
vided he  so  builds  as  not  to  darken  the  pulpit."  The 
late  Josiah  Quincy,  in  quoting  this  vote,  wrote,  — 

"  A  friend  of  mine  here  suggests  that,  as  a  figure  of  speech, 
pews  may  now  be  said  to  be  built  over  the  pulpit  with  some 
frequency,  and  regrets  that  the  good  divines  of  the  town,  whose 
life-long  sway  was  arbitrary  and  unquestioned,  did  not  have  the 
wit  to  prevent  that  perilous  permission.  For  notwithstanding 
the  wholesome  caution  of  the  old  record,  it  has  been  found  im- 
possible '  not  to  darken  the  pulpit '  when  the  pews  are  placed 
above  it." 

Let  the  picture  of  that  diminutive  stone  meeting- 
house, as  I  have  outlined  it,  take  form  in  your  minds. 
Imagine  it  filled  with  your  ancestors,  with  those  whose 
dust  sanctifies  the  little  cemetery  yonder,  the  memory  of 
whose  sterling  virtues  is  to  us  a  sacred  possession.  How 
plain  the  interior !  —  no  color,  no  art,  no  large  breadths 
of  space ;   a  place  rude  in  its  simplicity.     And  how  de- 


44  THE    CHURCH    OF    STATESMEN. 

void  of  art,  also,  the  Sunday's  service!  —  a  long  prayer, 
a  long  sermon,  and  the  psalms  slowly  lined  out,  and 
sung  tunelessly  almost.-^  Yet  how  serious  the  faces  of 
the  worshippers;  how  lit  up  with  strong,  noble  rever- 
ence !  Along  the  fore-seats  sat  the  oldest  among  them. 
"I  shall  never  forget,"  wrote  John  Adams  of  a  period 
later  than  this,  "  the  rows  of  venerable  heads  ranged 
along  those  front  benches  which,  as  a  young  fellow,  I 
used  to  gaze  upon."  They  bowed,  all  of  them,  —  young 
and  old  together,  —  before  the  Lord,  and  the  thought 
of  His  presence  made  their  poor  surroundings  glorious. 
How  changed  their  attitude,  however,  during  those 
stormy  meetings  when  "  some  were  for  Paul  and  some 
for  Apollos  "  !  Lieut.  Edmund  Quincy  presiding  in  the 
little  pulpit  is  hardly  able  to  keep  the  excited  gathering 
in  order.  A  vigorous  speaker  will  not  have  "  hetero- 
dox" Flynt  on  any  account,  and  his  words  are  greeted 
with  ready  applause  by  some  others  like-minded.  Cap- 
tain Brackett  and  Deacon  Bass  and  Goodman  Faxon 
are  all  up  at  once,  uttering  themselves  in  defence  of 
the  right  of  a  man  to  think  for  himself,  and  on  the  im- 
portance of  personal  righteousness.  And  so  the  battle 
goes  on,  and  by  it  the  Lord's  work  is  done  as  effectu- 
ally as  in  the  Sunday  worship.  Truth  emerges  from 
the  tumult,  and  peace  attends  upon  the  more  rational 
convictions.  There  is  no  such  trouble  again,  no  "awful 
divisions "  over  charges  of  "  heterodoxy."  The  liberal- 
izing element,  potent  in  the  forming  of  the  church,  is 

1  As  late  as  "May  26,  1723,  Major  Quincy  was  fairly  and  clearly  chosen 
by  written  votes  to  the  office  of  tuning  the  Psalm  in  our  assemblies  for  public 
worship." — "  1761,  March  29,  Voted  to  sing  Dr.  Watts's  hymns  and  spiritual 
songs  on  Sacramental  occasions." 


A  CONGKEGATION  FORMED  AT  THE  "  SOUTH  END."   45 

potent  still,  and  the  congregation  as  a  body  drifts 
complacently  away  from  the  stern  continent  of  Calvin- 
istic  doctrine.  When  next  there  is  earnest  discussion 
of  dogma,  it  is  manifest  that  virtually  the  entire  con- 
gregation is  with  the  minister  in  his  most  liberal  and 
independent  ideas. 

In  the  period  we  are  now  considering,  the  congrega- 
tion eventually  so  "  moderated  their  spirits "  that  they 
acquiesced  when  the  County  Court  in  November,  1671, 
interfered,  where  so  many  other  means  had  failed,  and 
sent  "  Mr.  Moses  Fiske  to  improve  his  labors  in  preach- 
ing the  word  at  Braintry,  until  the  church  there  agree 
to  obtain  supply."  This  proved  a  quite  fortunate  as- 
sumption, as  at  the  close  of  his  first  Sunday  of  service 
"  about  twenty  of  the  brethren  came  to  visit  at  Mr. 
Flynt's,  manifesting  in  the  name  of  the  church  their 
ready  acceptance  of  what  the  court  had  done ; "  and 
two  months  later  "  the  church,  by  their  messengers," 
as  Mr.  Fiske  records,  "  did  jointly  and  unanimously 
desire  my  settlement  amongst  them.  .  .  .  The  day  of 
my  solemn  espousals  to  this  church  and  congregation  " 
was  the  11th  of  September,  1672.  He  was  then  thirty 
years  old,  and  for  a  period  of  thirty-six  years  "  was 
zealously  diligent  for  God  and  the  good  of  men,  —  one 
who  thought  no  labor,  cost,  or  suffering  too  dear  a 
price  for  the  good  of  his  people." 

A  CONGREGATION  FORMED  AT  THE  "  SOUTH  END." 

It  was  during  his  pastorate  that  the  town  was 
divided  into  the  north  and  south  precincts.     Not  with- 


46  THE   CHURCH    OF   STATESMEN. 

out  calling  ^* forth  a  great  deal  of  human  nature"  was 
this  accomplished.  Those  who  lived  far  away  in  the 
south  part  of  the  town  were  becoming  painfully  conscious 
that  it  was  a  long  distance  to  "meeting,  and  through 
such  bad  ways,  whereby  the  Lord's  day,  which  is  a  day 
of  rest,  was  to  them  a  day  of  labor  rather."  Reasona- 
bly enough,  they  asked  that  a  new  and  larger  edifice  be 
built  at  a  pomt  more  central.  The  old  stone  meeting- 
house was  at  this  time  much  out  of  repair,  and  very 
plainly  also  it  could  not  adequately  accommodate  the 
growing  parish.  Accordingly,  at  a  town-meeting  in 
1695  it  was  "voted  that  a  new  meeting-house  should 
be  erected."  "This,"  writes  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  the 
younger,  "  did  not  meet  the  views  of  old  Col.  Ed- 
mund Quincy  and  others  who  lived  in  the  northern 
limits;  consequently  they  went  to  work  to  prevent  any- 
thing being  done  at  all,  and  at  a  private  meeting  held 
at  Colonel  Quincy's  they  'did  agree  among  themselves 
to  shingle  the  old  house,  pretending  to  be  at  the  whole 
charge  themselves.'  But,  none  the  less,  '  several  pounds 
were  afterwards  gathered  by  a  rate  upon  the  whole 
town.' "  Then  they  of  the  south  began  to  talk  about 
organizing  a  separate  church.  This  project  was  also 
opposed,  on  the  ground  that  the  burden  of  paying 
Minister  Fiske  his  eighty  or  ninety  pounds  a  year 
would  fall  upon  a  reduced  number  in  the  north.  So 
north  and  south  had  "  much  sinful  discourse "  between 
them,  and  "  some  misapprehension  about  church  disci- 
pline." However,  on  the  second  day  of  May,  1706, 
the  frame  of  a  new  meeting-house  was  raised  in  the 
south   part   of   the  town ;   and  at  a   town-meeting   the 


ADJUSTMENT    WITH    THE    CHUECH    OF    ENGLAND.        47 

next  November  it  was  voted,  as  gracefully  as  the  cir- 
cumstances would  permit,  ''that  as  there  were  two 
meeting-houses  erected  in  this  town,  the  south  end 
shall  be  a  congregation  by  themselves."  On  the  10th 
of  September,  1707,  the  Rev.  Hugh  Adams  was  or- 
dained pastor  of  the  South  Church ;  but  the  contention 
over  finances  was  only  ended  with  the  death  of  Mr. 
Fiske,  Aug.  10,  1708. 

ADJUSTMENT  WITH  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

During  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Fiske  his  congregation 
was  also  agitated  over  the  appearance  in  town  of  the 
Church  of  England.  How  these  ''  prelatists  "  got  estab- 
lished in  this  Puritan  settlement,  whether  by  immigra- 
tion or  by  conversion  of  degenerate  Congregationalists, 
it  would  be  interesting  to  ascertain.  We  know  that 
in  Boston  a  few  early  appeared  in  the  train  of  the 
king's  officers,  and  that  with  the  advent  of  Andros  in 
1686  that  town  was  forced  to  adjust  itself  to  regular 
assemblies  of  the  hated  worship.  Next  to  residents  of 
Boston,  the  people  here  were  first  among  Congregation- 
alists to  be  called  upon  to  solve  the  problem  of  how  to 
live  with  the  church  which  numbered  the  "martyr  king" 
—  Charles  I.  —  with  the  saints,  and  named  all  the  lead- 
ers of  the  Puritan  revolution  as  "  violent  and  blood- 
thirsty men."  It  was  a  question  bristling  with  ani- 
mosities. The  English  Church  was  then  foreign  to  our 
soil  and  unrecognized  by  law,  yet  it  claimed  the  king's 
colonies  for  the  prayer-book  and  the  prelacy.  A  mem- 
ber of   that   Church,   asking   assistance   for   his   fellow- 


48  THE    CHURCH    OF    STATESMEN. 

worshippers  here,  wrote  in  1702:  *' Brantry  should  be 
minded;  it  is  in  the  heart  of  New  England,  and  a 
learned  and  sober  man  would  do  great  good  and  en- 
courage the  other  towns  to  desire  the  like.  If  the 
Church  can  be  settled  in  New  England  it  pulls  up 
schisms  in  America  by  the  root,  that  being  the  foun- 
tain that  supplies,  with  infectious  streams,  the  rest  of 
America."  The  schismatics  of  "  Brantry "  were  not  at 
all  eager  to  be  pulled  up.  On  the  contrary,  they  were 
rather  strongly  inclined  to  do  some  uprooting  them- 
selves. However,  in  spite  of  their  longings  they  really 
did  treat  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England  hand- 
somely. According  to  Puritan  law,  these  prelatists  as 
well  as  all  others  were  taxed  for  the  support  of  the 
Puritan  churches,  and  were  required  to  attend  the  stated 
meetings  of  them  when  they  had  no  services  of  their 
own.  But  how  charitably  this  church  dealt  with  them 
let  the  Rev.  John  Hancock  tell :  — 

"  I  verily  think  the  conduct  of  this  church  and  congregation 
towards  our  brethren  of  the  Church  of  England  has  been  Chris- 
tian and  exemplary.  I  will  mention  several  instances  of  it  to 
the  glory  of  God  and  their  praise.  In  the  vacancy  before  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Miller  received  holy  orders  for  this  place,  this  church 
admitted  to  their  communion  all  such  members  of  the  Churcli 
of  England  as  desired  to  have  occasional  communion  with  us, 
and  allowed  them  what  posture  of  devotion  they  pleased,  and 
they  used  to  receive  the  sacrament  standing.  .  .  .  This  parish, 
upon  Mr.  Miller's  coming,  reimbursed  to  the  declared  members 
of  the  Church  of  England  their  proportion  of  the  charge  of  my 
settlement,  and  generously  excused  them  from  any  further  pay- 
ments towards  my  support." 


Hancock's  meetixg-house,  as  altered  in  1805. 


HAST.  — 60  feet. 


Deacons'  Seat. 


Willi; 
Spea 


To  Men's  Gallery. 


Women's  Seats. 


Ebenezer     Moses 

Niijhtin-    Belcher, 

gale.  Jr. 


To  Women's  Gallery. 


FRONT   DOOR. 


Ground  Floor  as  it  was  wlien  Church  was  dedicated  in  1732.     Numbers  indicate  valuation  lots,  —  "  Lot  i,  eight 
pews,  at  £2$  ;  lot  2,  twelve,  at  ^^15  each,"  etc. 


MEETING-HOUSES   LESS   THAN  MEN.  49 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  quote  these  words  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Hancock,  for  they  clearly  testify  to  the  tolerant 
spirit  which  even  at  that  early  day  prevailed  here. 
Indeed,  we  can  say  that  no  single  act  of  persecution 
for  opinion's  sake  stains  our  history.  Is  this  not  owing 
in  some  measure  to  the  words  and  example  of  Wheel- 
wright; to  the  inclination  toward  what  is  broad  and 
humane  wrought  by  his  labors  ? 

MEETING-HOUSES   LESS   THAN   MEN. 

This  same  Mr.  Hancock  who  thus  praises  toleration 
and  Christian  courtesy,  was  himself  an  exponent  and 
example  of  brotherly  kindness  and  charity  and  what- 
ever is  most  substantial  in  religion.  In  our  chronology 
he  follows  the  faithful  Joseph  Marsh,  who  was  installed 
May  18,  1709,  and  in  a  spiritual  succession  ranks  with 
the  best  of  our  ministers.  Ordained  May  2,  1726,  he 
was  the  last  pastor  to  lead  the  devotions  of  this  church 
in  the  old  meeting-house.  Its  leaks  and  fissures  admit- 
ting in  winter's  storms  cartloads  of  snow,  were  no  more 
to  be  "  repaired."  A  new  church  was  at  last  to  be  built. 
The  site  first  proposed  was  •'  at  Colonel  Quincy's  gate ; " 
then  where  the  old  meeting-house  stood;  but  it  was  de- 
cided eventually  to  place  it  "at  the  ten  milestone,  or 
near  unto  it."  This  was  exactly  fixed  "on  the  train- 
ing-field" a  little  to  the  south  of  the  "ten  milestone." 

Mr.  Hancock  thought  the  compassing  a  new  house 
of  worship  was  the  great  achievement  of  his  ministry. 
When  he  records  its  dedication,  Oct.  8,  1732,  he  spon- 
taneously breaks  forth  into  praises  in  the  sonorous  Latin 


50  THE    CHURCH    OF   STATESMEN. 

speech.  As  it  stood  there  on  the  training-field,  fair  and 
beautiful  in  his  eyes,  he  felt  it  to  be  a  glorious  monu- 
ment of  the  energy  of  his  people,  destined  to  win  for 
them  great  respect  and  influence.  But  however  notable 
that  event,  its  influence  in  shaping  the  destiny  and  es- 
tablishing the  character  of  this  society  was  as  nothing 
compared  with  two  other  happenings  seemingly  ordinary 
enough.  These  two  items  stand  in  his  record  of  bap- 
tisms:  "John,  son  of  John  Adams,  Oct.  26,  1735,"  and 
"John  Hancock,  my  son,  Jan.  16,  1736-7."  Proud  as 
a  father,  no  doubt,  he  was  on  the  latter  occasion ;  but 
proud  for  his  church  he  might  well  have  been  on  both 
occasions.  The  son  of  the  deacon  and  the  son  of  the 
minister  were  to  bring  more  fame  to  First  Church 
and  add  more  to  its  character  and  influence  than  any 
temple  of  wood  or  stone,  however  spacious  and  costly. 
How  true  it  is  that  evermore  it  is  not  the  material 
environment  but  the  spirit  which  emanates  from  man 
or  God,  —  the  truth,  the  patriotism,  the  faith,  the  in- 
tegrity,—  which  establishes  the  fame  of  all  institutions, 
and  makes  effectual  all  the  noble  power  of  them !  Here- 
tofore, through  many  years,  children  of  this  church  had 
become  notable.  The  Quincy  family  especially,  in  every 
generation  since  the  first  Edmund  came  from  England 
in  1633,  had  given  to  the  country  magistrates,  military 
officers,  representatives,  judges.  The  church  had  a 
share  in  their  fame  and  the  unfailing  assistance  of 
their  wealth  and  wisdom.  Now  with  these  were  to  be 
enrolled  John  Hancock,  the  liberal  patriot  and  honora- 
ble Governor,  and  John  Adams,  the  Puritan  statesman 
of  the  Kevolution,  anticipating  Independence  with  Puri- 


ABIGAIL    ADAMS, 
{Mrs.  ^o/in  Adams.) 

1800. 

AGED     56. 


JOHN    ADAMS, 
1800. 

AGED    65. 


^'  ON  fame's  eteknall  bead-roll."  51 

tan  conscience,  and  advocating  it  with  Puritan  persist- 
ence ;  the  Chief  Magistrate  — 

"  Of  soul  sincere, 
In  action  faitliful  and  in  honor  clear ; 
Who  broke  no  promise,  served  no  private  end." 

He  was  such  a  man  as  the  best  traditions  and  great  prin- 
ciples of  our  early  New  England  life  tended  to  make. 
This  church  proudly  claims  him  ;  perceives  his  original 
mental  force,  his  moral  independence  and  fervor,  to  be 
consonant  with  its  centuries  of  teaching. 


"  o?^  fame  s  eternall  bead-roll. 

How  many  other  statesmen,  all  after  this  same  order, 
have  been  born  to  us  !  From  the  unbroken  and  ascend- 
ing line  of  the  Quincys  still  have  issued  men  prominent 
in  public  life  who  belonged  to  us,  though  baptized,  it  may 
be,  in  the  metropolis  which  with  this  place  they  honored 
as  their  home.  John  Quincy,  one  of  the  most  active  men 
in  colonial  affairs,  for  many  years  Speaker  of  the  House 
and  Colonel  of  the  Suffolk  Regiment,  was  a  life-long  mem- 
ber of  this  church,  and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  or  more 
the  favorite  presiding  officer  of  parish  meetings.  And 
who  so  constant  an  attendant  upon  the  services  of  this 
church,  all  through  the  long  months  of  his  summer  so- 
journ among  us,  as  " Boston's  Great  Mayor"  and  repre- 
sentative to  Congress,  Josiah  Quincy  ?  His  tall  manly 
form  and  reverent  aspect  are  still  clear  in  the  minds  of 
many  of  this  congregation.  Other  public  and  notable 
men  you  will  call  to  remembrance,  —  Thomas  Greenleaf, 
Richard  Cranch,  —  yet  I  must  not  stop  to  name  them, 


52  THE    CHURCH    OF    STATESMEN. 

but  hurry  on  to  speak  of  him,  the  son  of  a  President  and 
President  himself,  whose  character  and  achievements  are 
of  that  high  moral  and  intellectual  order  which  in  any 
age   would  render   him   illustrious.      For  record  of   his 
earliest  connection  with  this  church  I  resort  again  to  the 
time-worn  annals  of  the  ministers.     This  time  the  writ- 
ing is  that  of  old  Parson  Wibird,  and  under  the  headline 
"Baptisms,  1767,"   reads,  "  Jn^   Quincy,  S.  Jn°  Adams, 
July  -12."     The  child  John  Quincy  Adams,  schooled  and 
trained  into  manhood  in  a  remarkably  practical  and  lib- 
eral fashion,  shows   himself  more   essentially  a  Puritan 
than  even  his  father.     His  piety,  his  devotion  to  truth 
and  right,  his  indomitable  will,  all  mark  him  as  a  genuine 
descendant  of  those  who  surrendered  all  to  live  in  accord 
with  the  spiritual  intent  and  spiritual  principles  of  the 
universe.     The  broad  New  England  church  in  the  world 
of  affairs  never  had  truer  representative.     His  high  aims, 
and  methods  as  high,  exalted  the  office  of  President;  and 
later  he  was  the  "  old  man  eloquent,"  whose  voice  to  his 
last  hour  rang  clear  and  unfaltering  in  defence  of  liberty 
and  human  rights.     For  all  his  great  renown  and  high 
public  station,  his  name  is  frequently  to  be  met  with  in 
our  church  records  on  committees  appointed  to  represent 
the    congregation  at  Unitarian  conventions   and   instal- 
lations   of   ministers.      Entirely    one    with    this    society 
in   spirit,  he    also    identified    himself   with  its   practical 
administrations. 

And  still  the  line  stretches  out  with  no  abatement  in 
mental  ability  or  moral  force.  His  son,  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  so  lately  gathered  to  his  fathers  and  mourned  by 
a  nation  which  appreciates  in  constantly  increasing  degree 


"  ON  fame's  eternall  bead-roll."  53 

his  fine  and  forceful  character  and  measureless  services, 
was  a  statesman  by  birth  and  acquirements.  Every  pub- 
lic position  to  which  he  was  elevated  he  honored  ;  and  we 
do  not  need  to  remind  you  how  as  Minister  to  England 
during  the  war  for  the  Union  his  clear  intelligence  and 
resolute  moral  strength  prevented  battles,  converted  a 
formidable  foe  to  a  friend,  and  in  calm  diplomatic  coun- 
cils did  as  much  to  preserve  this  nation  as  did  Grant  in 
the  rough  open  field  of  war.  This  great  man  also  belongs 
to  us ;  proudly  we  claim  him  as  we  claim  his  fathers,  — 
ours  by  blood  and  preference.  "  He  loved  to  come  here. 
He  loved  to  frequent  the  house  of  God  always.  It  was 
his  never-failing  weekly  resort.  Religion  was  not  merely 
the  daily  practice  of  his  home,  —  it  was  the  centre  of 
his  life."  ^ 

But  I  have  said  enough  ;  more  than  is  needful  I  have 
named  of  those  "  on  Fame's  eternall  bead-roll,"  to  demon- 
strate the  distinctive  character  of  this  church  among  even 
New  England  churches.  It  is  The  Church  of  States- 
men, —  every  man  of  them  (it  is  the  luminous  fact  to  be 
cherished)  magnanimous,  sincere,  and  genuine,  and  illus- 
trating in  the  face  of  the  world  the  eternal  principles 
of  the  Christian  religion  here  taught  and  reverenced. 
To  their  influence  and  fame  it  is  owing  that  this  church 
is  known  throughout  the  land,  and  that  pilgrimages-  are 
made  to  it.  To  their  influence,  do  I  sa}- ?  But  not  to 
theirs  alone.  Who  can  resist  the  thought  that  its  vir- 
tuous and  noble  women,  —  Mrs.  Abigail  Adams,  Mrs. 
John  Quincy  Adams,  Mrs.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Miss 

*  Dr.  William  Everett,  "  Address  in  Commemoration  of  the  Life  and  Ser- 
vices of  Charles  Francis  Adams." 


54  THE    CHURCH    OF    STATESMEN. 

Eliza  Susan  Quincy,  —  add    a  graciousness  to  that   dis- 
tinction and  make  it  entirely  beautiful  in  character? 

This  peculiarity  of  our  church  has  a  recognition  of  long 
standing.  Josiah  Quincy,  in  his  "  Figures  of  the  Past," 
writes,  — 

"  An  air  of  respectful  deference  to  John  Adams  seemed  to 
pervade  the  building.  The  ministers  brought  their  best  sermons 
when  they  came  to  exchange,  and  had  a  certain  consciousness 
in  their  manner  as  if  officiating  before  royalty.  The  medley  of 
stringed  and  wind  instruments  in  the  gallery,  —  a  survival  of 
the  sacred  trumpets  and  shaums  mentioned  by  King  David, — 
seemed  to  the  imagination  of  a  cbild  to  be  making  discord 
together  in  honor  of  the  venerable  chief  who  was  the  centre 
of  interest." 

But  however  admired  and  reverenced,  these  great  men 
were  still  Puritans  in  their  simplicity  and  entire  submis- 
sion to  the  Highest.  They  venerated  their  little  village 
church  and  its  worship.  Called  by  their  official  duties  to 
sojourn  in  the  great  cities  of  Europe,  they  were  witnesses 
of  the  pageantry  of  courts  in  which  no  ceremony  was  left 
out ;  they  mingled  with  the  brilliant  concourse  which 
thronged  the  gay  salons  ;  they  listened  to  the  majestic 
harmonies  in  the  magnificent  cathedrals  of  England  and 
the  Continent,  —  and  yet  they  returned  with  content,  and 
with  an  even  increased  devotion,  to  the  plain  ordinances 
and  unadorned  principles  of  their  fathers.  In  their  loy- 
alty, as  well  as  their  fame,  they  honored  the  Church  of 
Christ  in  this  place.  When  travelling  in  Spain,  John 
Adams  forbore  to  bow  before  a  shrine  reverently  shown 
him,  containing  some  sacred  relics.  The  shocked  custo- 
dian inquired  in  French  of  the  archbishop  who  was  doing 


uiA  oi^ 


^^^C^^t-C^ 


E?.  LV. 


FIRST    CHURCH    PROGRESSIVE    STILL.  55 

the  honors  of  the  occasion,  "  Is  not  the  gentleman  a 
Christian  ?  "  "  Yes,"  answered  the  prelate,  "  in  his  own 
way."  These  honored  men  of  our  communion,  what- 
ever the  place  they  were  in,  or  the  pomp  by  which  they 
were  surrounded,  were  Christians  in  their  own  way,  — 
the  way  they  were  taught  here  in  this  church  and 

"  At  that  best  academe,  a  mother's  knee." 
FIRST    CHURCH    PROGRESSIVE    STILL. 

It  might  easily  be  taken  for  granted  that  a  church 
which  nurtured  men  and  women  so  thoughtful  and 
broadly  intelligent  would  dispense  no  narrow  belief; 
and,  in  truth,  the  slightest  investigation  shows  that  in 
this  regard  it  was  singular  among  even  New  England 
churches.  The  liberal  spirit  so  early  interfused  appears 
in  the  utterance  of  every  one  of  its  greatest  preachers. 
The  sermons  of  the  Rev.  John  Hancock  written  to  com- 
memorate the  close  of  the  first  century  of  our  church's 
history,  are  remarkable  for  what  he  deliberately  does 
not  say.  In  them  there  is  entire  absence  of  Calvinistic 
dogma.  Already  the  cruder  phases  of  Puritanism  had 
been  discarded.  It  was  during  his  ministry,  too,  that 
"  some  persons  of  a  sober  life  and  good  conversation  sig- 
nified their  unwillingness  to  join  in  full  communion  with 
the  church,  unless  they  may  be  admitted  to  it  without 
making  a  public  relation  of  their  spiritual  experiences, 
which  (they  say)  the  church  has  no  warrant  in  the  word 
of  God  to  require."  So  a  "  great  majority  "  voted  they 
would  not  "  any  more  insist  upon  the  making  a  rela- 
tion as  a  necessary  form  of  full  communion."     But  it  is 


66  THE    CHURCH    OF    STATESMEN. 

when  we  come  to  the  Rev.  Lemuel  Briant  that  we  find 
liberalism  self-conscious  and  aggressive.  This  minister, 
a  young  man  of  twenty-four  when  he  succeeded  Mr. 
Hancock  in  the  September  of  1745,  is  characterized  as 
intellectually  a  remarkable  man.  Certainly  he  was  as 
w^riter  and  preacher  brilliant,  incisive,  independent,  and 
possessing  little  regard  for  conventionalities.  "  Had  he 
lived  he  might  have  held  his  ground,  and  succeeded  in 
advancing  by  one  long  stride  the  tardy  progress  of  liberal 
Christianity  in  Massachusetts."  He  neglected  to  teach 
the  children  of  his  parish  the  catechism,  preferring  plain 
Scripture ;  he  was  guilty,  said  his  opponents,  of  "  the 
absurdity  and  blasphemy  of  substituting  the  personal 
righteousness  of  men  in  the  room  of  the  surety-righteous- 
ness of  Christ ;  "  he  praised  moral  virtue ;  he  protested 
against  such  interpretation  of  the  Bible  as  affronted 
human  reason.  For  this  he  was  called  "  Socinian  "  and 
"  Armenian,"  and  a  council  of  sister  churches  was  sum- 
moned to  try  him.  With  an  independence  almost  un- 
heard of,  he  slighted  the  council  and  would  not  go  near 
it.  But  as  it  declared  there  existed  grounds  for  the  com- 
plaints against  him,  a  committee  of  his  own  church  was 
appointed  to  consider  the  matter.  Col.  John  Quincy  was 
at  the  head  of  this  committee,  and  it  reported  a  series  of 
resolutions  which  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  remarkable 
for  the  times.  They  were  adopted  by  almost  the  entire 
church,  the  few  "  aggrieved  brethren "  seeming  to  be 
quite  pacified.  In  these  resolutions  the  people  defended 
their  pastor's  use  of  "pure  Scripture"  instead  of  the  cate- 
chism ;  and  they  honored  the  right  of  private  judgment, 
commending  "  Mr.  Briant  for  the  pains  he  took  to  pro- 


JOHN    QUINCY    ADAMS, 
1796. 

AGED     29. 


iINT  ING    CO.,    BOSTON. 


LOUISA    CATHERINE    ADAMS, 
(Mrs.  y.  ^.  Adams.) 

1795. 

AGED    21. 


HELJOJVPE    PRINTIKG   CO.,    BOSTON. 


FIKST    CHUKCH    PROGRESSIVE    STILL.  57 

mote  a  free  and  impartial  examination  into  all  articles 
of  our  holy  religion,  so  that  all  may  judge  even  of  them- 
selves what  is  right." 

Upon  such  broad  foundation  this  church  placed  itself 
seventy  years  before  Channing  preached  the  famous  Bal- 
timore sermon,  which  precipitated  the  separation  of  the 
Unitarian  churches  from  the  main  body  of  Congregation- 
alists.  In  principle  it  was  a  Unitarian  church  long  be- 
fore the  liberal  aspirations  of  New  England  had  taken 
definite  shape  and  name.  To  this  John  Adams  gives  his 
testimony.  He  was  a  growing  lad  during  the  contro- 
versy over  the  beliefs  of  Mr.  Briant,  and  its  effect  upon 
himself  was  manifest  in  his  rejection  of  the  ministry  as 
a  profession ;  as  he  wrote,  "  the  reason  of  my  quitting 
the  divinity  was  my  opinion  concerning  some  disputed 
points."  Through  all  the  phases  of  a  developing  liberal 
Christianity  he  with  vigorous  thinking  then  passed,  and 
many  fellow-parishioners  with  him;  so  that  in  1815,  when 
at  last  the  Unitarian  outbreak  occurred,  he  could  write 
as  follows  to  Dr.  Morse  of  Charlestown,  who  had  sent  him 
a  pamphlet  setting  forth  the  new  opinions :  — 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  favor  of  the  10th  and  the  pamphlet 
enclosed,  entitled  'American  Unitarianism.'  I  have  turned  over 
its  leaves  and  find  nothing  that  was  not  familiarly  known  to  me. 
In  the  preface,  Unitarianism  is  represented  as  only  thirty  years 
old  in  New  England.  I  can  testify  as  a  witness  to  its  old  age. 
Sixty-five  years  ago  my  own  minister,  the  Rev.  Lemuel  Briant, 
Dr.  Jonathan  Mayhew  of  the  West  Church  in  Boston,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Steele  of  Hingham,  the  Rev.  John  Brown  of  Cohasset,  and  per- 
haps equal  to  all,  if  not  above  all,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gay  of  Hingham, 
were  Unitarians.  Among  the  laity  how  many  could  I  name,  — 
lawyers,  physicians,  tradesmen,  farmers  !     But  at  present  I  will 


58  THE    CHURCH    OF    STATESMEN. 

name  only  one,  —  Richard  Cranch,  a  man  who  had  studied 
divinity,  and  Jewish  and  Christian  antiquities,  more  than  any 
clergyman  now  existing  in  New  England." 

The  minister  who  followed  Mr.  Briant  may  have  been 
as  liberal,  but  he  was  not  at  all  aggressive  in  his  religious 
or  other  opinions.-^  In  the  company  of  the  Rev.  Anthony 
Wibird  '•  something  is  to  be  learned  of  human  nature, 
human  life,  love,  courtship,  marriage,"  wrote  the  stirring 
and  ambitious  John  Adams  at  twenty-two ;  "  but  his 
opinion  out  "  of  these  things  "  is  not  very  valuable.  His 
soul  is  lost  in  a  dronish  effeminacy."  Somewhat  later 
in  1775,  Boston  then  being  besieged  by  the  patriots, 
Abigail  Adams  wrote  to  her  husband,  "  I  could  not  bear 
to  hear  our  inanimate  old  bachelor.  Mrs.  Cranch  and  I 
took  our  chaise  and  went  to  hear  Mr.  Haven  of  Dedham ; 
and  we  had  no  occasion  to  repent  our  eleven  miles  ride." 
But  however  the  "  inanimate  old  bachelor  "  whose  opin- 
ions were  chiefly  valuable  as  they  regarded  "  courtship 
and  marriage  "  might  drone  away,  his  church  continued 
to  expand  in  thought  and  to  gain  clearer  conceptions  of 
"moral  virtue."  In  a  marked  degree  it  was  a  church 
whose  power  was  in  its  pews,  and  thus  a  good  example  of 

1  1 755,  Feb.  5.  We  went  to  Braintree,  joined  in  the  ordination  Council. 
Mr.  Wibird  the  candidate,  having  (upon  examination  of  Lis  principles,  par- 
ticularly about  the  Deity  of  Christ,  the  satisfaction  he  made  to  the  justice  of 
God  for  the  sins  of  men,  original  sin,  and  the  influence  of  the  spirit  of  God, 
and  our  justifying  righteousness  before  God)  given  satisfaction  to  the  Council, 
they  voted  to  proceed  to  his  ordination.  Rev.  Mr.  Langdon  of  Portsmouth 
began  with  prayer  ;  Rev.  Mr.  Appleton,  who  was  chosen  member  of  the  Council 
upon  the  venerable  Mr.  Xiles  declining  it,  preached  from  Levi.  x.  3.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Gay  of  Hingham  being  chosen  upon  Mr.  Niles  declining  it,  gave  the 
charge ;  and  I  being  chosen  gave  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  —  MSS.  Record 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Dunbar  of  Stoughton,  now  Canton. 


"AS   IT    IS    TO    THIS    DAY."  59 

worshippers  after  the  Congregational  order,  — a  society  of 
"  the  brethren."  In  diaries  and  records  one  discerns  how 
alive  are  these  farmers,  lawyers,  and  physicians  to  facts 
and  principles  of  real  religion ;  how  keen  for  moral  dis- 
tinctions, how  impatient  of  cant.  So  through  the  forty- 
five  years  during  which  Parson  Wibird  preached  (a  man 
"withal  of  great  dignity,  and  beloved  and  respected  by 
his  people,"  as  the  Rev.  Peter  Whitney  testifies),  the 
church  slowly  drifted  onward  upon  the  stream  of  rational 
religion  toward  a  world  of  higher  thoughts  and  nobler 
aspirations. 

"AS    IT    IS    TO    THIS    DAY." 

By  the  time  Peter  Whitney  was  ordained,  the  5tli  of 
February,  1800,  the  church  was  fairly  set  in  this  direc- 
tion, and  had  no  changes  to  make,  no  controversy  to 
disturb  it,  when  Channing's  sermon  forced  the  congrega- 
tions of  New  England  to  take  sides.  Good,  kind,  pleasant- 
spoken  Peter  Whitney,  —  there  are  men  and  women  with 
us  still  who  remember  him  well,  who  were  baptized  by 
him,  even  married  by  him.  They  like  to  tell  of  his  genial 
humor  and  plain  human  ways.  The  great  event  of  his 
ministry  was  the  dedication  of  the  "  Stone  Temple  "  on 
the  twelfth  day  of  November,  1828.  By  the  munificence 
of  John  Adams  and  the  encouragement  of  his  son  John 
Quincy  Adams  was  this  temple  erected  "  for  the  public 
worship  of  God,  and  for  public  instruction  in  the  doc- 
trines and  duties  of  the  Christian  relisrion."  With  its 
marble  tablets  and  tomb,  "  durable  as  the  rocks  of  their 
native  town,"  it  has  become  a  notable  monument  to  their 
services  and  character. 


60  THE    CHURCH    OF    STATESMEN". 

On  the  3d  day  of  June,  1835,  the  Rev.  William  Parsons 
Lmit  was  installed  as  colleague  with  Mr.  Whitney.  A 
melancholy  interest  attaches  to  his  name,  partly  on  ac- 
count of  his  pensive  and  earnest  character,  but  most  be- 
cause of  his  untimely  death  far  from  home  and  friends 
while  travelling  in  the  Holy  Land. 

"  But  oh  that  the  thoughtful  scholar,  — 
His  mind  at  its  fullest  noon,  — 
That  the  preacher's  tongue 
And  the  poet's  song 
Should  pass  away  so  soon  !  " 

In  the  sands  of  Arabian  Akaba  his  dust  was  interred,  — 
how  distant  from  the  "  tombs  of  the  prophets,"  his  prede- 
cessors, in  our  burial-place  which  he  was  so  careful  to 
preserve  !  Dr.  Lunt,  always  meditating  upon  the  highest 
themes,  led  his  people  still  on  where  reason  joined  with 
reverence  showed  the  way.  Famed  for  scholarship  and 
poetic  gifts,  he  is  ranked  among  the  ablest  of  the  minis- 
ters of  the  First  Church.  His  discourse  delivered  at 
the  interment  of  his  venerated  parishioner  John  Quincy 
Adams,  is  "  worthy  of  a  place  by  the  side  of  any  funeral 
oration  of  ancient  or  modern  times,"  and  his  two  dis- 
courses written  for  the  Two  Hundredth  Anniversary  of 
this  church  are  remarkable  for  careful  statement,  exten- 
sive research,  and  perspicuity  of  style.  By  these  and 
other  productions  of  his  pen  he  obtained  great  renown. 

Mr.  John  D.  Wells  was  ordained  Dr.  Lunt's  successor 
the  27th  of  December,  1860.  Coming  here  just  on  the 
eve  of  the  great  Civil  War,  Mr.  Wells  threw  himself  with 
passionate  devotion  upon  the  side  of  the  Union,  and  not 
only  inspired  his  parishioners  with  patriotic  feelings,  but 


"AS   IT   IS   TO   THIS   DAY."  61 

himself  enlisted  and  led  the  way  where  actions  more 
eloquently  spoke.  Received  with  hearty  welcome  when 
he  returned  from  the  front,  he  once  more  took  up  his 
duties  among  you,  and  with  entire  faithfulness  performed 
them  till  failing  health  obliged  him  to  resign.  Your 
manifest  affection  for  him  is  greater  praise  than  I  may 
presume  to  render. 

For  four  years  before  my  own  installation  you  were 
without  a  settled  pastor.  During  that  time  you  listened 
to  many  preachers.  A  few  of  them  cannot  but  be  men- 
tioned, —  such  as  Dr.  William  Everett,  whose  presence 
with  us  this  day  is  denied  us  owing  to  his  severe  illness ; 
Dr.  A.  P.  Putnam,  who  occupied  this  pulpit  for  several 
months,  and  who  was  invited  to  remain  here  perma- 
nently ;  and  the  Rev.  E.  C.  Butler,  who  twice  was  urged 
to  become  the  minister  of  this  parish. 

Finally,  on  the  24th  of  March,  1880,  I  was  installed 
your  minister.  I  hardly  dare  confess  how  hard  it  has 
been  to  rightly  labor  with  a  "  plentiful  lack "  of  self- 
confidence,  and  how  poor  the  labor  seems  for  the  most 
part,  now  at  the  end  of  ten  years.  But  you  have  con- 
tinued your  activities,  dispensing  a  constant  charity, 
manifesting  an  unfailing  interest  in  the  advancement  of 
pure  Christianity  and  moral  reforms.  Many,  very  many 
have  passed  away  from  among  us;  yet  we  have  grown, 
and  the  promise  of  the  future  is  inspiring. 

The  most  memorable  event  which  has  occurred  among 
you  since  I  have  been  your  minister  was  the  ending  of 
the  earthly  existence  of  our  great  fellow-worshipper,  the 
Hon.  Charles  Francis  Adams.  On  Tuesday  the  23d  of 
November,  1886,  this  church  was  opened  to  receive  his 


62  THE    CHUECH   OF    STATESMEN. 

remains,  and  after  the  solemn  and  simple  service  befitting 
the  occasion,  they  were  borne  hence  to  be  interred  in  the 
soil  he  loved  so  well.  Again  for  a  high  and  solemn  pur- 
pose was  the  church  opened  the  4th  of  July,  1887,  when 
Dr.  William  Everett  delivered  his  noble  address  in  com- 
memoration of  the  life  and  services  of  Mr.  Adams.  Mrs. 
Adams  did  not  long  survive  her  husband  ;  she  too  passed 
away  full  of  years  and  beloved  by  all.  Another  notable 
event  which  may  be  mentioned  is  the  erection  and  dedi- 
cation of  our  chapel  a  year  ago;  and  perhaps  it  is  also 
worthy  of  record  that  at  last  this  is  not  the  only  Uni- 
tarian church  within  the  limits  of  the  ancient  town 
of  Braintree.  October  23,  1887,  the  present  flourishing 
Unitarian  society  at  Wollaston,  under  the  charge  of  the 
Rev.  W.  S.  Key,  was  started  ;  and  for  a  year  or  more 
the  Rev.  J.  F.  Moors,  D.  D.,  has  been  preaching  to  a  very 
vigorous  congregation  of  our  faith  in  Randolph. 

"the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter." 

In  this  pleasant  anniversary  celebration  our  interest 
chiefly  has  been  with  the  past.  We  have  sought  to  un- 
derstand the  vanished  times,  and  make  the  people  of 
them  live  once  more.  During  these  last  months,  while 
thus  looking  backward,  passing  strange  to  me  has  seemed 
this  show  of  things.  Gone  are  all  those  sons  of  men  who 
here  toiled  and  fretted,  hoped  and  aspired.  Seven  suc- 
cessive generations  of  them  have  swept  out  from  the 
unknown,  and  into  the  unknown  have  vanished  again. 
The  ambitious  statesmen,  the  mother  not  to  be  comforted 
in  the  loss  of  her  child,  the  passionate  patriot,  the  disso- 


CHARLES    FRANCIS    ADAMS, 
1869. 

AGED    62. 


HELIOTYPE  PRir 


ABIGAIL    BROOKS    ADAMS, 

{Mrs.  C.  F.  Adams.') 

1871. 

AGED    63. 


HELIOTYPE    PRINTING    CO,,    BOSTON, 


THE    CONCLUSION    OF    THE    WHOLE   MATTER.  63 

lute  brawler  of  the  tavern,  —  those  whom  hardly  a  world 
would  content,  and  those  whom  a  crust  satisfied,  —  have 
disappeared  for  evermore.  Ah,  it  is  pathetic,  tragic,  not 
to  be  understood !  All  that  remains  with  us  is  a  name, 
and  the  good  they  have  done.  The  good  they  have  done ! 
It  is  the  remembrance  of  that  which  brings  us  here  to- 
day. We  are  glad  to  unite  in  praise  of  that.  We  wel- 
come this  distinguished  point  in  our  church's  history  to 
praise  goodness  and  all  sacrifices  for  truth.  These  re- 
main, these  virtues  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  past,  — 
a  priceless  heritage  and  a  ceaseless  inspiration. 

And  all  the  good  work  wrought  by  them  and  the  fair 
lives  of  them  belong  peculiarly  to  you.  Your  predeces- 
sors they  are,  —  this  church  theirs  and  yours.  The  same 
names  are  borne  by  many  of  you  that  were  borne  by  the 
founders  of  the  society.  Are  you  sensible  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  that?  Do  you  realize  what  it  is  to  be  in  the 
place  of  your  fathers,  and  to  be  continuing  their  work  ? 
In  the  great  migration  of  peoples  now  proceeding,  when 
millions  are  travelling  far  to  make  themselves  new 
homes,  it  is  something  to  be  valued  to  be  permitted  to 
continue  where  your  own  have  occupied  for  generations. 
This  church  should  be  to  you  your  Mecca,  your  Jerusa- 
lem ;  every  part  of  it  and  its  surroundings  a  memorial, 
every  name  a  history.  From  pew  and  pulpit,  from  the 
highways  leading  to  this  temple,  from  "  God's  acre  "  ad- 
joining, visionary  forms  should  greet  you,  each  with  its 
separate  message,  pleasant,  pathetic,  admonitory.  A 
place  this  for  thoughts,  a  place  to  engage  the  heart's 
deepest  affections.  And  for  those  who  later  have  set- 
tled here  there  is  much  to  move  and  uplift.     Is  not  the 


64 


THE   CHURCH   OF    STATESMEN. 


wealth  of  our  traditions  for  all,  and  the  joy  of  laboring 
together  for  all,  and  the  promise  for  all  that  "  the  glory 
of  this  latter  house  shall  be  greater  than  that  of  the 
former  "  ?  God  grant  that  in  faithfulness  we  bring  this 
to  pass,  and  make  this  church  not  merely  a  remembrance 
in  the  land,  but  a  present,  a  living  power! 


GRAVESTONES  OF  PASTOR  TOMPSON  AND  TEACHER  FLYNT. 


i639  1889 

Commemorative   Services. 

COMPLETION  OF  TWO   HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY  YEARS 

SINCE     THE     GATHERING     OF     THE 

fir^e  €})nvcl)  of  Cj^ri^t  in  StnincV' 

SUNDAY,  SEPT.  29,  1889, 

AT   2   P.  M. 


HISTORICAL  DISCOURSES  BY  THE  PASTOR:  SEPT.  22,  AT  10.30  A.M., 
"THE  CHAPPEL  OF  EASE,"  WHEELWRIGHT'S  CHURCH  AT  THE  MOUNT; 
SEPT.  29,  10.30  A.M.,  THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  FIRST  CHURCH  AND  ITS 
SUBSEQUENT  HISTORY. 


ORDER  OF  EXERCISES. 


45roan  ©cluntarp, 
Gloria  from  the  Twelfth  Mass Mozart. 

fnbocation. 
The  Kev.  Roderick  Stebbins,  Pastor  of  the  Fu-st  Church  in  Milton. 

"  O  Sing  unto  the  Lord  " Chandler. 

The  Rev.  G.  Herbert  Hosmer,  Pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Unity  in 

Neponset. 

Hymn,  by  Sternhold Northjield. 

pcaper. 
The  Rev.  Alfred  P.  Putnam,  D.D. 

Response,  "  Bow  down  thine  ear  " Davenport. 

The  Rev.  Daniel  ]\Iunro  Wilson,  Pastor. 

John  Quincy  Adams  Brackett,  Lieut.-Governor  of  Massachusetts. 

The  Rev.  Stopford  Wentworth  Brooke,  Pastor  of  the  First  Churcli  in 

Boston. 


nau?ic. 


Sacred  Sonjr 


Solo. 


Charles  Francis  Adams. 
The  Rev.  Alfred  A.  Ellsworth,  Pastor  of  the  First  Parish  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  Braintree. 

JOSIAH    QUINCY. 


Hymn  written  for  the  200th  Anniversary,  by  John  Quincy  Adams. 


Alas  !  how  swift  the  moments  fly  ! 

How  flash  the  years  along ! 
Scarce  here,  yet  gone  already  by, 

The  burden  of  a  song. 
See  childhood,  youth,  and  manhood  pass, 

And  age,  with  furrowed  brow  ; 
Time  was  ;  Time  shall  be,  —  drain  the  gla 

But  where  in  Time  is  7ww  ? 

Time  is  the  measure  but  of  change  ; 

No  present  hour  is  found  ; 
The  past,  the  future,  fill  the  range 

Of  Time's  unceasing  round. 


Where,  then,  is  JVow  ?    In  realms  above. 

With  God's  atoning  Lamb, 
In  regions  of  eternal  love. 

Where  sits  enthroned  1  Au. 

Then,  pilgrim,  let  thy  joys  and  tears 

On  Time  no  longer  lean  ; 
But  henceforth  all  thy  hopes  and  fears 

From  earth's  affections  wean  : 
To  God  let  votive  accents  rise ; 

With  truth,  with  virtue,  live; 
So  all  the  bliss  that  Time  denies 

Kternity  shall  give. 


poem. 
Christopher  Pearse  Cranch. 

Mrnic. 
"  Oh,  Praise  the  Lord  " J.  B.  Marsh. 

The  Rev.  Christopher  R.  Eliot,  Pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Dorchester. 

The  Rev.  James  de  Normandie,  Pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Roxbury. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Osgood,  Pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Cohasset. 

Music. 
Old  Hundred. 


^enebiction. 

The  Rev.  Edward  Norton,  Pastor  of  the  Evangelical  Coiigregational 
Church  of  Quincy. 


The  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Braintree  was  Embodied  Sep.  16,  1639. 

Record  of  the  Rev.  John  Hancock. 


MINISTERS  OF   FIRST  CHURCH. 

{William  Tompson,  Pastor,  ordained  September  24,  1639  ;  died  Decem- 
ber 10,  1G66. 
Henry  Flynt,  Teacher,  ordained  March  17,  1640;  died  April  27,  1668. 

Moses  Fiske,  ordained  September  11,  1672;  died  August  10,  1708. 

Joseph  Marsh,  ordained  May  18,  1709;  died  March  8,  1725-6. 

John  Hancock,  ordained  November  2,  1726  ;  died  May  7,  1774. 

Lemuel  Briant,  ordained  December  11,  1745;  resigned  October  22,  1753. 

Anthony  Wibird,  ordained  February  5,  1755 ;  died  June  4,  1800. 

Peter  Whitney,  ordained  February  5,  1800 ;  died  Marcli  3,  1843. 

William  Parsons  Lunt,  ordained  June  3,  1835;  died  March  21,  1857. 

John  Doane  Wells,  ordained  December  27,  1860;  resigned  May  28,  1876. 

Daniel  Munro  Wilson,  installed  March  24,  1880. 


COMMEMORATIVE    SERVICES. 


I  "HE  day  on  which  the  celebration  occurred  was  bright, 
-*-  and  tempered  with  a  pleasant  air.  Some  who  were 
present  at  the  services  in  the  morning  remained  in  the 
church  till  the  afternoon.  These,  together  with  a  large 
number  who  arrived  in  an  early  afternoon  train,  were 
provided  with  refreshments  in  the  chapel.  Long  before 
the  hour  appointed  the  church  was  full,  and  by  two  o'clock 
every  part  of  it  was  occupied.  An  animated  and  beautiful 
scene  was  presented.  The  pulpit  and  its  immediate  sur- 
roundings were  decorated  with  plants  and  flowers,  a  mas- 
sive cross  of  golden-rod  suspended  against  the  wall  back  of 
the  pulpit  being  particularly  noticeable  from  its  contrast 
with  the  dark  maroon  draperies  which  formed  its  back- 
ground. The  memorial  tablets  to  Presidents  John  and 
John  Quincy  Adams  were  decked  with  laurel  wreaths, 
while  the  dates  "  1639  "  and  "  1889,"  wrought  in  green 
leaves,  were  conspicuously  displayed  upon  the  walls. 

After  the  "  Gloria  "  was  sung  by  the  choir,  the  Rev. 
RoDEEiCK  Stebbins  offered  the  following  invocation : 

INVOCATION  BY  THE  REV.  R.  STEBBINS. 

0  Thou  almighty  and  mysterious  One  !  Thou  who  art  with- 
out a  beginning  of  days  or  an  end  of  years !  we  come  to  Thee  ; 
we  call  upon  Thy  name,  we  beseech  Thy  holy  presence,  we  wor- 


70  COMMEMORATIVE    SEEVICES. 

ship  Thee  in  prayer  and  praise  and  spoken  word.  We  come 
to  Thee  on  a  day  of  memory,  when  the  century  past  and  gone 
leaves  our  minds  grateful  that  we  have  been  so  blest.  We  trust 
in  Thee,  Thou  almighty  giver  of  all  good;  and  may  we  ac- 
knowledge Thee  in  the  rejoicings  and  in  the  thanksgivings  of 
the  hour.  May  we  acknowledge  Thee  to  be  our  Father,  —  the 
Father  of  the  generation  past,  and  Father  of  the  generation  yet 
to  come.     Amen. 

The  Kev.  G.  H.  Hosmer  read  a  selection  of  very  ap- 
propriate passages  from  the  Scripture,  immediately  after 
which  the  choir  broke  forth  in  the  noble  paraphrase  of 
the  XVIIIth  Psalm  by  Sternhold,  which  ends  with  this 
stanza :  — 

"  The  Lord  descended  from  above,  and  bowed  the  heavens  high, 
And  underneath  His  feet  he  cast  the  darkness  of  the  sky ; 
On  cherubs  and  on  cherubins  full  royally  he  rode, 
And  on  the  wings  of  all  the  winds  came  flying  all  abroad." 

The  Rev.  A.  P.  Putnam,  D.  D.,  then  offered  the  fol- 
lowing prayer :  — 

PRAYER   BY   THE   REV.    A.   P.   PUTNAM,   D.  D. 

0  God,  eternal  and  infinitely  glorious  One,  whom  the  heaven 
of  heavens  cannot  contain,  yet  who  dwellest  in  temples  which 
our  hands  have  built,  and  in  the  secret  recesses  of  every  sincere 
and  faithful  soul !  help  us  who  are  here  before  Thee  to  feel  Thy 
presence  and  to  celebrate  Thy  goodness,  as  we  thus  enter  into 
these  gates  with  thanksgiving,  and  into  these  courts  with  praise, 
and  would  fain  bless  and  magnify  Thy  great  and  holy  name. 
Reminded  as  we  are  by  this  impressive  anniversary  how  the 
generations  come  and  go,  and  how  change  is  written  on  all 
earthly  things,  we  come  to  Thee,  and  find  strength  and  com- 
fort in  the  thought  that  Thou  art  from  everlasting  to  everlast- 


OPENING   EXERCISES.  71 

ing,  —  the  one  sure  rock  and  refuge,  almighty  Father  and 
Friend  of  us  all  forever  and  ever.  The  fathers,  where  are  they  ? 
Where,  but  still  with  Thee  in  whom  they  put  their  trust,  and  to 
whom  they  were  faithful  even  unto  death  ?  And  in  Thee,  in 
Thee,  O  Lord  our  God,  we  would  also  repose  our  trust,  while 
we  pray  that  we  may  receive  of  Thy  spirit  and  do  Thy  will. 
Here,  on  this  consecrated  ground,  where  they  toiled  and  tended 
this  vine  that  grew  to  such  goodly  growth  and  abundant  fruit, — 
toiled  to  found  the  beneficent  institutions  under  which  we  live 
and  thrive,  —  we  would  thank  Thee  for  all  their  pious  labors 
and  examples,  and  for  their  rich  bequests  to  the  future.  We 
thank  Thee  for  this  ancient  church  of  their  care  and  love,  and 
for  all  the  signal  favors  which  Thou  hast  vouchsafed  unto 
it  in  all  its  continued  history  from  the  first  to  the  last.  We 
thank  Thee  for  the  long  line  of  earnest  and  devoted  pastors 
who  have  here  preached  Thy  word,  and  had  so  many  souls 
given  them  as  the  seals  of  their  ministry  and  the  crown  of 
their  rejoicing.  We  thank  Thee  for  that  great  company  of 
godly  men  and  saintly  women  who  have  reverently  trodden 
these  aisles  and  bowed  themselves  here  in  prayer,  and  lifted 
unto  Thee  the  voice  of  sacred  song,  and  communed  with  the 
Christ,  and  sought  to  be  in  his  likeness,  and  so  entered  into  their 
rest.  We  thank  Thee  for  all  those  kind  and  excellent  teachers, 
and  active  and  useful  workers,  who  have  here  wisely  instructed 
and  lovingly  guided  throng  after  throng  of  tender  youth,  or  in 
manifold  other  ways  have  wrought  good  for  this  community  in 
which  they  lived.  We  thank  Thee  also  for  the  many  illustrious 
statesmen,  rulers,  reformers,  and  philanthropists  who  have  here 
had  their  birth  or  home,  and  who  have  here  caught  lessons  of  wis- 
dom and  virtue  and  duty  which  they  have  carried  forth  to  larger 
spheres,  where  in  our  own  land  or  abroad,  in  calm  or  storm,  in 
darkness  or  in  sunshine,  they  have  dedicated  their  gifts  and  their 
all  to  the  welfare  of  their  country  and  of  mankind.  For  the 
purity  of  their  heart  and  life,  for  their  stern  integrity,  which  not 
the  clamors  of  party  or  the  blandishments  and  temptations  of 


72  COMMEMORATIVE    SERVICES. 

the  world  could  mar  or  weaken,  for  their  service  of  truth  and  jus- 
tice and  freedom,  the  cause  of  good  government,  of  sound  learn- 
ing and  morals,  and  Christian  truth,  and  for  all  the  blessed 
results  which  they  achieved  we  thank  and  bless  Thee,  0  Thou 
God  of  our  life.  For  the  memories  of  the  precious  dead  we 
thank  and  bless  Thee.  Not  unmindful,  not  unobservant  of  this 
scene  and  of  these  solemnities  is  the  great  cloud  of  witnesses  by 
which  we  are  now  and  here  surrounded.  They  are  here  with  us 
in  thought  and  sympathy,  in  love,  in  spirit,  and  in  fellowship. 
Are  they  not  ministering  spirits  unto  us,  and  shall  not  we  also 
be  the  heirs  of  salvation  ?  Grant  us  more  and  more,  we  beseech 
Thee,  of  their  faith,  their  zeal,  their  consecration  to  Thy  work. 
Pour  out  Thy  blessing,  we  pray,  upon  this  church,  upon  both 
pastor  and  people ;  and  as  Thou  hast  been  with  it  in  time  past, 
so  wilt  Thou  be  with  it  in  time  to  come,  that  Christian  faith  and 
love  may  here  abound,  and  go  forth  hence  to  disseminate  far  and 
wide  the  influences  that  shall  be  for  the  healing  of  souls  and  of 
the  nation.  Bless,  we  pray  Thee,  our  country ;  and  as  Thou  hast 
been  with  her  alway  and  hast  guided  her  safely  thus  far,  as  by 
a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night,  and  hast 
made  her  prosperous  among  the  states  and  empires  of  the  earth, 
so  wilt  Thou  lead  her  still  on  to  a  more  exalted  destiny,  whose 
record  shall  tell  of  other  triumphs  of  Thy  strength,  whose  glad 
day  shall  see  otber  shackles  broken  and  other  slaves  made  free, 
and  more  and  more  of  faith  and  love  and  light.  Bless  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  and  all  who  are  in  authority  ;  we  pray 
that  they  may  rule  in  equity  and  righteousness,  may  fear  God 
and  eschew  iniquity,  and  cleave  to  Thy  will,  and  serve  in  their 
day  and  generation  as  those  who  shall  give  account.  Be  with 
us,  one  and  all,  and  help  us  that  we  may  be  good  citizens, 
kind  and  helpful  neighbors  and  friends,  and  faithful  and  true 
disciples  and  followers  of  Thy  dear  Son.  Give  unto  us  the 
clear  vision  without  which  Thy  people  perish.  Give  imto  us 
that  purity  which  those  have  who  see  God,  that  truth  which 
maketh  free  indeed,  that  faith  which  overcometh  the  world,  that 


ADDRESS   BY   THE   PASTOR.  73 

love  which  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,  that  love  to  God  and 
love  to  man  which  are  so  acceptable  iu  Thy  sight.  And  may 
we  have  within  us  those  sacred  fires  of  truth  and  liberty  that 
shall  quicken  us  to  every  good  word  and  work  ;  and  may  we 
so  live  that  when  at  last  we  shall  be  called  hence,  and  others 
shall  succeed  to  our  places,  it  shall  be  given  to  us,  as  to  those 
who  have  gone  before,  to  see  the  seed  that  has  been  sown  in 
faith,  in  patience  and  fidelity,  springing  up  and  bearing  fruit 
unto  Thy  glory.  Hear  us  and  answer  us,  and  forgive  us  and 
bless  us.  We  ask  it  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. 

ADDRESS  BY  THE  PASTOR. 

Dear  Friends,  —  This  service  we  are  now  celebrating  is  the 
culmination  of  our  commemorative  services.  Already  we  have 
had  delivered  by  the  pastor  of  the  church  two  discourses  in  full 
Puritan  measure,  and  only  half  that  might  be  said  has  been 
said.  But  what  I  said  this  morning  and  a  week  ago  this  morn- 
ing was  intended  as  preparation  for  these  services,  and  also  that 
I  myself  might  be  effaced  in  order  that  persons  who  came  from 
abroad  and  others  deeply  interested  in  the  church  should  have 
an  opportunity  to  speak. 

The  Rev.  John  Hancock  says  that  it  was  on  the  16th  day 
of  September,  1639,  that  our  church  was  embodied.  Add  ten 
days  to  that  for  change  of  style,  and  it  brings  the  date  to 
the  26th,  which  is  really  the  anniversary  of  our  birth  as  a 
church.  It  seems  to  me,  and  I  say  it  with  all  deference,  that 
Governor  Winthrop  was  in  error  when  he  wrote  that  this 
church  was  gathered  the  17th  of  the  month,  and  that  Dr.  Lunt 
continued  the  error  when  he  celebrated  the  two  hundredth 
anniversary  on  the  29th.  To  be  sure  we  also  are  celebrating 
on  the  29th ;  but  we  take  the  day  set  by  Dr.  Lunt  in  order  to 
avoid  confusion,  leaving  it  to  those  who  come  after  us  to  select 
the  date  more  in  accordance  with  such  evidence  as  we  possess. 


74  COMMEMORATIVE    SEEVICES. 

The  testimony  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hancock  is  of  first  importance. 
He  had  the  ancient  records,  now  lost,  in  his  possession ;  he  was 
a  careful  man ;  and  he  is  positive  our  church  was  embodied  Sep- 
tember 16,  —  that  is,  September  26,  new  style.  It  was  a  tempta- 
tion also  to  celebrate  on  this  present  day,  because  being  Sunday 
so  many  of  the  laymen  would  find  it  more  convenient  to  be  here. 
Of  course  for  the  same  reason  we  are  deprived  of  the  presence 
of  many  clergymen  whom  we  should  be  delighted  to  have  with 
us  ;  but  ministers  are  quite  ready  to  be  sacrificed  at  any  time 
in  order  that  the  laity  may  have  a  chance  to  go  to  church.  I 
am  put  here  to  bid  all  who  are  present  a  hearty  welcome,  —  to 
you  the  friends  of  this  church,  to  you  once  members  of  it  and 
now  from  a  distance  coming  to  join  in  this  glad  occasion,  to  all 
who  are  interested  in  the  historical  associations  of  this  church, 
and  to  all  who  feel  that  by  coming  here  they  celebrate  the 
memory  of  one  of  the  most  influential  and  honorable  societies 
in  the  Commonwealth. 

It  is  customary  at  all  celebrations  such  as  we  are  now  tak- 
ing part  in  for  the  State  of  Massachusetts  to  be  represented  ; 
and  heretofore,  at  the  celebrations  of  the  First  Churches  that 
have  preceded  ours  in  age,  the  State  has  been  represented, 
either  by  the  governor  or  by  the  lieutenant-governor.  Our  Gov- 
ernor writes  me  that  he  is  not  at  all  able  to  be  present  on 
account  of  illness;  he  has  sent  the  following  letter,  which  I 
shall  read :  — 

Boston,  September  21,  1889. 
Mr.  Lewis  Bass  and  Rev.  D.  M.  Wilson,  Quincy,  Mass. 

Dear  Sirs,  —  I  greatly  regret  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  attend 
the  exercises  on  Sunday  the  29th  instant,  in  commeinoration  of  the 
founding  of  the  First  Church  in  Quincy.  In  such  an  event  I  take 
deep  interest,  as  its  occurrence  indicates  the  vitality  of  those  prin- 
ciples which  led  to  the  settlement  of,  and  which  are  influencing  the 
development  of,  this  country. 

Your  church  and  society  have  fame  throughout  this  broad  land 
and  beyond  its  limits,  in  that  two  of  those  who  have  been  num- 


ADDKESS    BY   THE    PASTOR.  75 

bered  among  its  members  have  been  selected  to  fill  the  highest 
office  in  the  gift  of  our  people.  Both  of  them  were  giants  among 
the  men  of  their  days.  They  have  gone,  and  your  church  edifice  is 
the  shrine  of  their  honored  dust ;  but  the  influence  of  their  lives 
remains  for  our  instruction  and  benefit,  and  for  that  of  coming  gen- 
erations of  Americans. 

We  have  with  us  their  descendants  whom  we  delight  to  honor, 
not  so  much  because  of  their  ancestry  as  for  their  worth  and  ability. 
The  Adams  family,  the  First  Church  in  Quincy,  the  City  of  Quincy, 
are  so  closely  united  that  they  are  essentially  parts  of  one  whole, 
centres  of  right  influence,  of  energetic  action,  of  prosperity,  of  so- 
briety in  all  things,  —  in  a  word,  examples  of  New  England,  its 
civilization,  its  institutions,  and  its  growth. 

I  am  yours  very  respectfully, 

Oliver  Ames. 

Now,  as  the  Governor  could  not  be  present,  an  invitation  was 
sent  to  John  Quincy  Adams  Brackett,  not  only  because  he 
would  represent  the  State,  but  because  of  his  name.  Brackett, 
Adams,  Quincy,  —  when  has  this  church  been  without  these 
names  ?  And  in  every  generation  those  who  bore  them 
honored  this  church  and  their  country,  were  useful  and  ad- 
mirable members  of  the  community.  Sorry  I  am  that  on  ac- 
count of  illness,  also,  he  is  not  here  to  represent  not  only  the 
State,  but  the  names  which  he  bears. 

You  all  understand,  because  I  presume  you  have  all  read 
the  history  of  the  early  days  of  the  colony,  that  this  church 
reaches  back  in  its  existence  to  the  year  1636.  For  two  or 
more  years  before  First  Church  was  organized,  worshippers 
met  here,  but  they  did  not  then  form  an  independent  congre- 
gation. They  went  to  their  meeting-house  in  Boston,  and 
there  received  the  sacrament.  They  went  ten  miles  from 
here  to  the  city  —  then  the  town  —  of  Boston,  to  attend  this 
occasional  service.  The  pastor  at  that  time  was  John  Wilson, 
and  it  is  somewhat  of  a  coincidence  that  Wilson  is  the  name 
of  the  present  pastor  of  the  church  which  originated  in  the 
members  of  the  Boston  church  who  lived  here.     But  we  have 


76  COMMEMOKATIYE    SERVICES. 

with  us  the  pastor  of  Boston's  First  Church,  and  he  will  re- 
member that  when  the  people  here  wanted  to  withdraw  from 
his  church  and  have  a  church  of  their  own,  his  church  felt 
so  poor  it  feared  that  the  number  of  persons  going  from  them 
would  weaken  it,  and  they  were  loath  to  give  their  consent. 
But  they  had  the  shrewdness  to  tax  the  people  of  this  place 
for  the  support  of  their  church  when  they  finally  gave  permis- 
sion, and  as  they  "  grew  up  with  the  country  "  they  eventually 
prospered,  and,  I  am  pleased  to  say,  can  now  get  on  without 
any  support  from  us. 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  the  Rev.  Stopford 
Wentworth  Brooke,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston. 


ADDRESS  BY  THE   REV.   S.   W.  BROOKE. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  —  I  must  confess  that  when  I  received 
the  kind  invitation  of  your  minister  and  committee,  I  experi- 
enced some  feelings  of  awkwardness  and  incongruity  at  hav- 
ing to  speak  to  you  on  such  an  essentially  American  occasion 
as  the  present.  But  with  that  hospitality,  which  is  so  delight- 
ful a  characteristic  of  this  country  and  for  which  I  have  had 
so  often  to  be  grateful,  you  have  been  good  enough  to  forget 
that  I  am  not  an  American  citizen.  You  have  remembered 
only  that  I  am  the  minister  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston.  It 
is  as  such  that  I  bring  you  the  warm  greetings  of  the  ancient 
mother  church  out  of  which  you  sprang,  on  having  completed 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  your  corporate  life.  1  had 
hoped  indeed  that  another  representative  of  that  Church,  one 
whose  name  is  associated  in  your  minds  with  occasions  such  as 
this,  one  whose  extraordinarily  intimate  and  varied  acquain- 
tance with  the  facts  of  New  England  history  we  all  recognize 
and  admire,  —  Dr.  George  Ellis,  —  would  have  been  here  to  speak 
to  you  about  the  early  relations  of  the  two  churches.  It  would 
not  be  wise  however  for  me,  even  if  I  had  the  requisite  knowl- 


ADDKESS  BY  THE  EEV.  S.  W.  BROOKE.        77 

edge,  to  trespass  on  his  ground;  and  you  —  you  who  know  the 
general  outline  of  those  facts  so  well  yourselves  —  would  scarcely 
thank  me  for  what  you  might  well  call  such  English  audacity. 
I  shall  say  nothing,  therefore,  about  the  mutual  history  of  the 
two  churches;  but  I  will  rather,  as  a  Unitarian  clergyman 
speaking  to  Unitarian  laymen,  confine  myself  to  two  thoughts 
applicable  to  our  present  Unitarian  position,  which  have  been 
suggested  by  this  happy  occasion.  They  are  common  thoughts ; 
but  I  need  not  therefore  ask  your  indulgence  for  them,  for  it  is 
common  thoughts  after  all  that  most  rule  our  lives. 

The  first  is  that  the  men  who  founded  these  churches  were 
men  possessing —  nay,  rather  possessed  by  —  a  great  idea.  They 
left  England,  its  comforts,  and  all  the  dear  associations  that 
brooded  for  them  in  those  meadows  and  quiet  villages  of  the 
eastern  countries,  they  endured  this  inhospitable  climate,  they 
faced  ferocious  enemies,  the  terrors  of  the  wilderness,  and  the 
doom  of  death  for  many  of  their  number,  because  they  desired 
to  worship  and  serve  their  God  according  to  the  inmost  convic- 
tions of  their  souls.  They  would  not  compromise  with  what 
they  considered  the  truth,  they  would  not  conceal  it  out  of  in- 
difference or  fear  or  self-interest ;  but  holding  it  dearer  than 
all  outward  happiness,  they  sought  a  place  where  they  might 
live  by  their  truth  in  freedom.  That  is  a  memory  which  must 
have  been  in  the  minds  of  many  of  us  to-day  ;  it  is  a  thought 
which  we  shall  do  well  to  cherish.  We  live  in  an  age  which 
congratulates  itself  on  the  growth  of  tolerance  between  the  dif- 
ferent sects  of  religion.  But  is  there  not  real  danger  lest  in 
this  spread  of  the  tolerant  spirit  we  should  forget,  as  these 
men  never  did,  that  there  is  a  virtue  in  thinking  out  our  own 
opinions,  in  making  them  part  of  our  very  life,  and  in  stand- 
ing by  them  in  the  face  of  tlie  world  ?  I  meet  Unitarians  and 
liberal  Christians  sometimes  — I  do  not  allude  to  professed 
non-churchgoers  —  who  seem  to  have  no  religious  convictions 
whatever ;  they  consider  one  intellectual  form  of  faith  as  good 
as  another,  although  they  are  very  certain  in  their  intellectual 


78  COMMEMORATIVE    SERVICES. 

doctrines  about  business  or  politics  ;  they  frequent  the  church 
where  their  friends  go  or  fashion  and  wealth  lead,  although 
views  are  held  and  ceremonies  performed  there  with  which  they 
do  not  and  cannot  sympathize.  That  was  not  the  spirit  which 
drove  these  men  whose  memory  we  celebrate  to-day  into  the 
primeval  forest  across  a  terrible  ocean ;  that  was  not  the  spirit 
which  has  made  these  churches  so  strong  and  enduring.  They 
were  in  earnest  about  their  religious  thoughts  ;  they  meant  them 
to  rule  their  lives ;  they  believed  they  were  the  very  truth  itself ; 
they  were  prepared  to  suffer  and  die  for  them.  Better  I  say 
their  earnestness  with  all  its  fearful  intolerance  —  and  it  was 
fearful  —  than  our  sentimental  tolerance  without  their  earnest- 
ness of  conviction. 

There  is  another  thought  suggested  by  this  occasion,  which 
you  will  permit  me  to  put  before  you.  It  is  that  the  men  who 
founded  these  churches  intended  they  should  be  centres  whence 
other  centres  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  influence  should  radi- 
ate through  the  land.  In  Virginia,  as  Mr.  Lodge  has  recently 
told  us,  "  the  mass  of  the  clergy  were  men  who  sold  tobacco,  were 
the  boon  companions  of  the  planters,  hunted,  shot,  and  drank 
hard."  With  some  of  these  occupations  I  have  no  quarrel ;  but 
the  gist  of  his  condemnation  comes  when  he  adds  that  they  per- 
formed "  their  sacred  duties  in  a  perfunctory  and  not  always 
decent  manner."  But  in  New  England  the  clergy  were  some  of 
the  most  cultivated  and  serious  men  of  their  time.  With  all  their 
faults,  — faults  which  belonged  to  their  age  as  much  as  to  them- 
selves, and  few  of  us  who  realize  how  difficult  it  is  to  be  above 
one's  age  will  condemn  them  harshly  for  these,  —  they  yet  rep- 
resented and  kept  vigorous  and  intelligent  that  stern  doctrine 
and  that  rigid  moral  tone  of  their  society,  without  which  it  could 
never  have  conquered  its  extraordinary  difficulties  and  dangers ; 
and  so  highly  did  they  prize  this  doctrine  and  this  tone  that  in 
every  new  settlement  they  established  a  church  of  their  faith, 
and  secured  thus  the  spread  of  their  views  and  their  spirit.  Is 
not  that  too  an  ideal  which  our  churches  —  the  lineal  descend- 


ADDRESS  BY  THE  EEV.  S.  W.  BROOKE.        79 

ants  of  those  stern  and  fiery  men  —  would  do  well  to  remember  ? 
I  am  well  aware,  when  I  say  this,  that  the  Unitarian  churches 
of  New  England  have  always  represented  a  powerful  intellec- 
tual and  moral  influence  in  the  community.  It  would  not  be 
becoming  for  me  to  remind  you  of  that  new  spiritual  awaken- 
ing to  which  in  their  early  days  they  gave  birth  here,  to  speak 
of  their  part  in  the  Antislavery  agitation  or  in  the  great  war, 
or  in  the  saving  of  California  to  the  Union.  You  know  too, 
better  than  I  do,  how  many  are  the  benevolent  institutions  they 
founded  in  Boston  and  other  cities.  But  still,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Mr.  Starr  King's  lonely  venture  by  the  waters  of  the 
Pacific,  —  and  it  was  as  a  patriot  rather  than  a  Unitarian  that  he 
worked  there,  —  they  have  confined  their  range  as  churches  too 
much  to  New  England.  As  individuals  indeed  they  have  accom- 
plished much  elsewhere.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  to-day  some 
of  the  most  intrepid  commercial  enterprises,  much  of  the  best  lit- 
erature and  of  the  more  progressive  politics  of  the  country,  owe 
part  of  their  vitality  and  success  to  members  of  our  churches. 
As  individuals  they  have  indeed  fulfilled  the  ideal  of  those  from 
whom  they  have  sprung.  But  where  in  the  new  settlements  are 
the  churches  those  ancestors  in  their  zeal  would  have  established 
there  ?  Where  are  the  centres  in  the  States  toward  the  sunset 
whence  our  intellectual  and  spiritual  influence  is  to  radiate 
through  the  land  ?  Where  is  the  corporate  body  more  powerful 
than  one  or  two  isolated  individuals  can  ever  be,  which  is  to 
cherish  and  spread  our  doctrine  and  spirit  as  those  early  set- 
tlers did  theirs  ?  Those  centres  are  unfortunately  few  and  far 
from  one  another.  We  need  therefore  much  more  of  their  tem- 
per of  zeal.  There  is  a  great  deal  no  doubt  in  the  methods 
they  employed  from  which  we  must  keep  ourselves  free.  They 
were  far  too  fond  of  monopoly  in  religion ;  they  applied  the 
trust-system  ruthlessly  to  Christianity ;  they  considered  them- 
selves, those  old  English  squires  and  yeomen,  "the  lords  of 
human  kind ; "  "  pride  in  their  port,  defiance  in  their  eye,"  they 
brooked  no  opinion,  endured  no  morality,  which  was  not  their 


80  COMMEMORATIVE   SEEVICES. 

own.  They  would  have  made  the  whole  world  Puritan  if  they 
could,  and  if  God  had  not  been  different  to  their  idea  of  Him.  It 
is  a  fault,  however,  that  an  Englishman  can  scarcely  condemn  se- 
verely in  them  without  condemning  severely  his  whole  nation  ;  it 
is  a  quality  too,  of  which  I  am  bound  to  say — if  you  will  permit  me 
to  say  it — that  I  have  found  no  deficiency  whatever  in  Americans. 
Their  bitter  intolerance  indeed  we  shall  in  these  days  of  religious 
liberty  probably  avoid ;  it  smacks  too  much  of  High  Church  Epis- 
copalianism  or  narrow  Orthodoxy  to  suit  a  Unitarian.  But 
their  aggressive  zeal ;  their  resolve  to  plant  their  doctrines  and 
morality  and  spirit  wherever  they  could  find  a  foothold  in 
men's  minds  and  hearts ;  their  surprise,  not  to  use  a  stronger 
word,  if  a  new  settlement  refused  one  of  their  churches,  —  of  that 
temper  we  Unitarians  can,  for  some  time  to  come,  have  a  great 
deal  more  without  running  much  risk  of  falling  like  Saint  Peter, 
or  becoming  like  the  Sons  of  Thunder.  Like  the  founders  of  these 
churches,  let  us  assume  then  actively  that  we  are  born  to  rule  the 
earth,  and  do  our  best  to  establish  that  rule  wherever  we  can. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  these  are  the  two  thoughts  which  this 
happy  occasion  has  suggested  to  me.  Whether  the  First  Church 
would  altogether  approve  of  them  I  cannot  say.  They  have 
given  me,  however,  the  privilege  of  bringing  to  you  —  it  is  pleas- 
ant to  repeat  pleasant  messages  —  their  heartiest  congratulations 
on  having  attained  —  how  shall  I  express  it? — nearly  the  age 
of  the  first  great  Pilgrim  of  the  Invisible,  our  father  Abraham. 
And  in  conclusion  I  can  only  ask  you,  if  you  have  found  any 
thing  to  disapprove  of  in  what  I  have  said,  to  remember  that 
I  am  not  yet  New  Englandized,  —  or,  shall  I  say  rather,  not  yet 
Americanized. 

Mr.  L.  H.  H.  JoHNSOisr  then  made  a  statement  regard- 
ing distinguished  persons  who  had  been  unable  to  attend 
the  services.     He  said  :  — 

It  was  a  disappointment  to  those  who  had  charge  of  the  invi- 
tations, it  will  be  a  matter  of  deep  regret  to  those  of  you  who 


Rev.  William  Smith. 
William   P.   Lunt,   D.   D. 


Rev.   Peter  Whitney. 
Rev.   D.   M.  Wilson. 


Hon.   Richard  Cranch. 
Rev.  J.   D.  Wells. 


HELIOTYPE    PRINTING   CO.,    BOSTON. 


ADDEESS   BY    MR.    L.    H.    H.  JOHNSON.  81 

were  privileged  to  worship  here  during  his  pastorate,  that  the 
Rev.  John  D.  Wells  could  not  be  with  us  to-day.  He  is  the  only 
one  living  of  the  former  pastors  of  this  church,  and  it  would  have 
been  peculiarly  fitting  and  appropriate,  could  his  voice  have  been 
heard  on  this  occasion  of  her  rejoicing,  this  anniversary  of  her 
birth.     In  his  absence,  let  me  read  you  his  letter, 

Boston,  Sept.  19,  1889. 
My  dear  Mr.  Wilson,  —  Were  it  not  that  I  have  for  some  time 
felt  myself  unequal  to  the  demands  of  public  occasions,  I  should 
be  glad  to  accept  your  kind  invitation  to  take  part  in  the  cele- 
bration of  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  First 
Church  of  Quincy.  The  occasion  is  one  of  deep  interest  to  all 
concerned  in  the  history  and  the  welfare  of  the  ancient  parish,  and 
of  no  little  moment  —  permit  me  to  say  —  to  me,  whose  privilege 
it  was  so  recently,  and  for  so  long  a  season,  to  occupy  the  place 
which  you  now  fill. 

To  all  my  former  parishioners,  and  to  your  whole  people,  let  me 
extend  my  hearty  greeting  and  my  congratulations  that  they  have 
lived  to  see  this  day,  on  which  I  trust  they  will  not  only  renew 
their  fealty  to  the  faith  and  freedom  of  the  fathers  by  whom  the 
church  was  founded,  but  will  dedicate  themselves  afresh  to  the  ser- 
vice of  a  far  higher  faith  and  wider  freedom  than  the  fathers  ever 
dreamed  of,  — looking  forward  with  confidence  to  the  dawn  of  that 
distant  but  surely  coming  day,  when  the  clouds  of  ignorance  and 
superstition  that  still  obscure  the  heavens  shall  have  utterly  dis- 
solved and  vanished,  and  the  very  truth  of  God  shall  shine  every- 
where, undimmed  and  unobstructed. 

I  am  sincerely  yours,  John  D.  Wells. 

Many  other   letters   have   been  received  by  the   committee, 

among  them  one  from  Mr.  Breck,  of  Milton,  an  old  gentleman 

of  nearly  ninety-two.     I  am  going  to  read  a  short  extract  from 

his  letter,  because  it  gives  an  interesting  picture  of  the  church 

as  it  appeared  during  service  about  1811.^     I  have  here,  also, 

letters  from  the  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Exeter,  N.  H.,  the 

1  For  this  and  other  letters  see  later  pages. 
6 


82  COMMEMORATIVE   SERVICES. 

church  which  Rev.  John  Wheelwright  founded  when  driven  out  of 
this  neighborhood  ;  from  President  Eliot  ;  from  Rev.  Dr.  Stores, 
of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  from  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  whose 
Dorothy  Q.,  not  John  Hancock's,  as  he  is  careful  to  say,  was  born 
just  a  century  before  him,  and  from  many  others.  All  the  letters 
are  most  interesting,  and  only  the  fear  of  taking  too  much  time 
from  those  who  are  to  follow  prevents  me  from  reading  them. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Wilson  :  The  next  speaker  I  shall  in- 
troduce to  you  is  one  who  by  his  knowledge  of  the  facts 
of  our  church  and  town  history,  by  his  deep  interest  in  all 
that  has  happened  in  New  England's  past,  and  by  his 
appreciation  of  the  spirit  which  led  to  the  planting  of  our 
institutions,  is  highly  qualified  to  speak  to  you  on  this 
occasion.  Indeed,  it  would  have  been  entirely  acceptable 
to  the  committee  having  charge  of  these  exercises  if  he 
had  consented  to  consume  the  larger  portion  of  the  time 
devoted  to  this  celebration.  I  am  sure  you  will  welcome 
in  this  hour  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams. 

ADDEESS  BY  CHAKLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS. 

In  one  of  the  best  known  and  most  deservedly  popular  of  his 
poems,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  has  said  :  — 

"  Little  of  all  we  value  here 
Wakes  on  the  morn  of  its  hundredth  year, 
Without  both  feeling  and  looking  queer. 
In  fact,  there  's  nothing  that  keeps  its  youth, 
So  far  as  I  know,  but  a  tree  and  truth." 

What  is  true  of  a  century  is,  it  goes  without  saying,  much 
more  true  of  that  period  of  time  the  close  of  which  we  to-day 
are  here  to  commemorate.  But  after  all,  like  most  other  true 
things,  it  is  true  only  comparatively  speaking  and  in  part.  It  is 
true  of  things  human ;  it  is  in  nowise  true  of  things  truly  divine, 


ADDKESS  BY  CHARLES  FEANCIS  ADAMS.       83 

or  of  natural  processes  which  work  out  results  regardless  of  time, 
as  mortals  reckon  it.  We  and  our  fathers  before  us  have  lived 
here  in  Quincy  two  centuries  and  a  half,  through  all  those  years 
worshipping  within  these  walls,  or  within  the  other  and  humbler 
walls  which  preceded  these.  Two  centuries  and  a  half  seem  to 
us,  and  measured  by  the  record  of  human  events  they  indeed 
are,  an  epoch ;  yet  not  long  since,  as  I  was  one  day  walking 
here  in  Quincy  with  an  eminent  man  of  science,  we  stopped  on 
the  brink  of  a  tarn  in  one  of  our  abandoned  quarries.  The  ledge 
chanced  to  be  of  slate,  the  thin  strata  of  which  stood  perpendic- 
ularly to  the  water,  which  lay  at  their  base.  Pointing  up,  my 
companion  called  my  attention  to  a  line  of  fracture  near  the  top 
of  the  wall  of  stone,  and  perhaps  a  foot  below  the  thin  herbage 
which  grew  from  the  layer  of  soil  which  overspread  it.  The 
fracture  was  distinct  and  uniform,  —  just  such  a  regular  even 
break  as  you  might  see  if  some  great  weight  were  to  pass  over 
the  narrow  end  of  a  bundle  of  shingles  resting  upright,  and 
crush  them  all  at  a  single  point  in  one  direction.  As  I  looked 
wonderingly  at  this  break  in  the  solid  rock,  —  the  fractured  tops 
of  the  slate  all  inclining  to  the  southwest,  —  my  companion  told 
me  that  it  was  caused  by  the  movement  of  the  glacier  during  the 
ice  age  of  America.  The  ice  age  of  America  !  He  spoke  of  a 
period  so  remote  that  the  mention  of  it  reduces  all  records  made 
by  man  to  mere  memoranda  of  things  of  yesterday.  Yet  there 
before  me  was  that  line  of  surface  fracture  in  the  rock,  — clean, 
uniform,  distinct,  —  just  as  the  towering,  grinding  wall  of  ice 
had  left  it,  when,  its  steady  march  to  the  southward  coming  to 
a  close,  it  had,  thousands  of  years  ago,  slowly  and  sullenly  re- 
ceded in  the  direction  of  those  remote  regions  of  the  frozen 
north  where  it  still  reigns  supreme.  The  break  in  the  wall  of 
slate  had  been  there  where  I  looked  then  upon  it,  the  same  in 
every  minute  particular,  from  that  time  to  this  ;  it  was  there 
when  the  Scripture  records  say  that  Adam  and  Eve  dwelt  in 
Eden ;  it  was  there  when  Moses  led  the  children  of  Israel  up 
out  of  Egypt ;  it  was  there  when  Greek  and  Persian  were  con- 


84  COMMEMORATIVE   SERVICES. 

tending  at  Marathon  and  Thermopylae  ;  it  was  there  during  the 
twenty  centuries  of  Roman  empire  ;  it  was  there  when  Columbus 
first  set  foot  on  American  soil ;  it  was  there  —  it  had  been  there 
ten  thousand  years  —  when  yesterday,  as  it  were,  our  fathers,  a 
mere  handful,  gathered  here  together  on  that  September  day 
and  founded  this  church. 

Viewed  in  this  light,  in  the  liglit  of  Nature  and  of  God,  the 
event  we  commemorate  seems,  and  is,  dwarfed  of  its  age  and 
brought  very  near  to  us.  A  thousand  years  measured  in  this 
scale  become  but  as  yesterday,  or  a  watch  in  the  night ;  and  the 
signing  of  the  Braintree  Church  compact  was  something  which 
occurred  in  the  morning,  while  we  here  have  now  come  to  high 
noon.  We  are  here  but  to  celebrate  the  event  of  to-day's  earlier 
hours ;  yet  few  of  the  human  institutions  which  existed  in  those 
earlier  hours  of  Nature's  single  day  exist  now.  The  record  is 
almost  appalling  when  we  recall  the  number  of  the  creations 
of  man  this  church  of  Braintree,  in  its  quiet,  steady,  unbroken 
span  of  life,  has  survived.  On  that  26th  of  September,  1639, 
when  Governor  Winthrop  sailed  from  the  town  of  Boston  across 
the  bay  to  Braintree  to  meet  those  reverend  pastors,  Hobart  and 
Wilson  and  Mather  and  Allen,  who  had  found  their  way  hither 
through  the  forest  paths  to  extend  the  right  hand  of  fellowship 
to  William  Tompson  and  Henry  Flynt,  history,  as  we  know  it, 
had  scarcely  yet  begun.  Galileo,  the  father  of  modern  astro- 
nomy, was  still  living  and  learning ;  and  John  Milton,  a  man  in 
the  flower  of  his  youth,  had  just  returned  to  London  from  his 
memorable  sojourn  in  Italy.  Scarcely  a  dynasty  in  Europe 
which  now  exists  existed  then.  Russia  was  an  unknown  and 
barbarous  region,  not  yet  admitted  into  the  number  of  civilized 
States,  for  a  whole  generation  of  men  was  to  pass  away  before 
Peter  the  Great  rocked  in  his  cradle.  Prussia  was  to  be  created ; 
Gustavus  Adolphus  had  died  at  Lutzen  only  seven  years  before ; 
the  Thirty  Years'  War  was  still  raging,  and  Sweden  was  the 
first  military  power  in  Europe.  Poland  has  since  been  obliter- 
ated from  the  list  of  nations ;  but  Poland  then  was  the  bulwark 


ADDRESS  BY  CHAELES  FEANCIS  ADAMS.        85 

of  civilization,  for  it  was  more  than  forty  years  later  that  John 
Sobieski  smote  the  Turk  before  the  walls  of  Vienna,  and  re- 
leased Christendom  forever  from  fear  of  the  Islamite.  Further 
west  Richelieu,  the  great  cardinal-duke,  was  organizing  modern 
France  and  planting  those  seeds  of  wind  which  ripened  in  the  ful- 
ness of  time  into  the  whirlwind  of  just  a  century  ago.  Finally, 
in  England  the  second  Stuart  still  sat  upon  the  throne,  for  the 
famous  Long  Parliament  had  not  yet  been  convened ;  John 
Hampden  was  a  country  gentleman,  and  men  had  yet  to  hear 
of  Oliver  Cromwell. 

Thus,  Sunday  by  Sunday,  as  our  fathers  through  eight  gener- 
ations have  gathered  within  these  walls  and  followed  through 
the  centuries  the  same  forms  of  worship,  —  the  church  steadily 
and  unceasingly  pursuing  its  work  of  modest,  quiet  usefulness, 
—  in  the  outer  world  empires  and  dynasties  have  risen,  culmi- 
nated, and  declined ;  the  names  of  men  marking  epochs  in  hu- 
man progress  have  been  heard  for  the  first  time,  become  familiar 
as  household  words,  and  then  been  embalmed  in  history.  In  the 
intervals  of  divine  service,  men  and  women  have  listened  on  the 
porch  of  this  church  to  rumors  of  the  victories  of  Lutheran  and 
Catholic  in  the  time  of  Wallenstein  and  the  Swede ;  they  there 
discussed  the  issue  of  King  and  Commons  in  the  days  of  the 
Long  Parliament ;  they  heard  of  the  death  of  King  Charles  on 
the  scaffold  before  Whitehall,  and  sent  up  prayers  for  the  soul 
of  the  Protector  when  he  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
Marston  Moor  and  Naseby  were  names  as  familiar  and  thrilling 
to  them  as  Gettysburg  and  Appomattox  are  to  us.  King 
Philip's  war  hung  a  terror  over  them  ;  and  the  story  of  the 
death  of  Wolfe  on  the  heights  of  Abraham  was  no  less  a  cause 
of  thankfulness,  here  expressed  in  earnest  prayer,  than  were 
the  tidings  that  Washington  stood  within  Yorktown,  or  that 
Grant  was  in  possession  of  Vicksburg.  This  church  had  passed 
through  nearly  half  of  its  existence  when  its  doors  were  closed 
by  the  first  tempests  of  the  Revolution,  and  its  pastor  read  from 
the  pulpit  the  freshly  promulgated  Declaration  of  Independence. 


86  COMMEMORATIVE   SEEVICES. 

All  these  human  events  have  taken  place  in  the  two  centuries 
and  a  half  since  this  church  —  so  old  and  yet  so  young  —  was 
gathered,  and  it  has  borne  witness  to  them  ;  yet  in  the  sight  of 
Him  here  worshipped,  and  in  the  scale  in  which  His  events  are 
ordered,  it  is  a  new-comer,  and  but  of  yesterday.  One  hundred 
centuries  have  gone  since  the  last  great  process  of  Nature  left 
Quincy  Bay,  and  the  hills  sloping  to  it  upon  which  we  dwell, 
and  the  granite  which  here  breaks  through  the  earth's  crust,  as 
we  see  them  now.  Thus  this,  the  first  church  of  Braintree,  iS 
old  only  as  things  human  are  old ;  but  so  far  as  America  at 
least  is  concerned,  who  shall  deny  the  age  of  an  institution,  or 
refuse  honor  to  it,  when  its  life  of  unbroken  usefulness  covers 
more  than  half  the  years  which  have  elapsed  since  the  voyage  of 
Columbus  ?    For  it  and  for  us  "  the  past  at  least  is  secure." 

The  Rev.  Me.  Wilson  :  When  the  old  town  of  Brain- 
tree  grew  so  large  and  its  settlers  pushed  so  far  south 
that  it  was  a  hardship  for  some  of  them  to  come  of  a 
Sunday  to  the  old  meeting-house,  they  began  to  agitate 
the  project  of  building  a  new  house  in  a  more  central  lo- 
cation. The  people  in  this  part  of  the  town  were  not 
in  sympathy  with  the  movement,  and  opposed  it.  But 
finally  the  people  at  the  south,  quite  out  of  patience, 
built  a  house  for  themselves.  Even  then  our  ancestors 
here  treated  them  as  Pharaoh  treated  the  Israelites, — 
they  would  not  let  them  go.  Much  ill  feeling  was  be- 
tween the  two  parts  of  the  town,  and  it  was  continued 
for  years.  I  am  happy  to  state  that  it  is  now  all  ended, 
and  that  I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  to-day 
the  minister  of  that  congregation  which  earliest  swarmed 
from  us ;  and  I  can  assure  him  that  all  animosity  on  our 
part  has  entirely  ceased.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Ellsworth  of 
the  old  church  in  Braintree. 


ADDRESS   BY   THE   REV.  A.  A.  ELLSWORTH.  87 


ADDEESS  BY  THE   EEV.  A.  A.  ELLSWORTH. 

As  a  representative  of  the  First  Church  of  Braintree  I  can 
assure  the  pastor  of  this  ancient  First  Church,  speaking  for 
her  eldest  daughter,  that  nothing  but  the  kindest  feelings  are 
indulged  by  the  child  for  the  parent.  And  in  behalf  of  my 
people,  many  of  whom  are  here,  I  earnestly  thank  the  com- 
mittee in  charge  of  these  exercises  for  including  us  among 
their  guests. 

The  extension  of  fellowship  toward  us  could  not  be  unac- 
knowledged, although  it  involved  the  duty  of  speaking,  amidst 
so  rich  a  repast  of  thought  and  expression  appropriate  to  the 
occasion,  where  if  ever  for  me  silence  would  be  golden.  I  am 
glad  to  know  that  our  church  colonized  from  this  in  the  sixty- 
eighth  year  of  your  age,  —  a  period  when  children  are  very  apt 
to  leave  home  for  local  convenience  and  for  personal  happiness, 
and  still  cherish  the  associations  of  their  birthplace. 

During  the  past  few  days  I  have  been  reviewing  in  the  excel- 
lent sermon  of  your  pastor,  and  in  many  an  old  volume,  the 
record  of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  which  are  included  be- 
tween the  dates  on  the  programme.  It  is  a  history  full  of  inter- 
est at  every  step,  and  becomes  dramatic  to  one  realizing  that  he 
is  following  back  the  streams  of  his  own  existence,  who  dis- 
covers here  and  there  the  trace  of  an  ancestor,  and  thus  feels 
the  rythm  of  pulsations  which  chord  with  the  beatings  of  his 
own  heart.  It  is  a  long,  full  story,  and  were  a  day  given  each 
one  here  to  speak,  it  could  not  half  be  told.  We  may,  however, 
by  the  associations  of  this  hour  revive  many  fading  memories, 
kindle  a  flame  of  gratitude  toward  those  who  lived  in  the  past, 
become  invigorated  for  present  duties,  and  thus  be  the  media- 
tors of  all  the  good  Puritan  forces  which  may  still  go  march- 
ing on. 

Happy  the  orator  or  historian  who  at  some  "  protracted  meet- 
ing "  might  present  to  his  audience  the  many  gems  of  character, 


88  COMMEMORATIVE   SERVICES. 

act,  or  incident  easily  gathered  out  of  the  details  of  this  history. 
The  specific  is  always  so  much  more  interesting  than  the  ge- 
neric. But  to  do  it  justice  requires  talents  and  time  not  at  my 
command. 

The  last  speaker,  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  is  one  who 
above  others  has  both  the  talents  and  the  time.  The  gems  are 
not  always  sought  for  in  the  exhumations  of  the  early  archives, 
for  it  is  frequently  a  diversion,  requiring  not  talents  but  only 
time  to  entertain  an  audience  with  the  errors  and  foibles  of  the 
Puritan  age.  Many  reviewers  seem  to  be  like  house-servants, 
sent  to  the  attics  to  bring  down  ancient  and  faded  wardrobes, 
and  to  excite  amusement,  forgetting  that  ancient  errors  largely 
were  like  clothing,  —  a  fashion,  to  change  and  pass  away. 

The  history  of  the  Puritans  is  most  important  to  us,  not 
from  their  accidental  peculiarities,  but  for  the  great  eternal 
principles  upon  wliich  rested  their  religion  and  their  liberty. 
The  rest  is  mere  bric-a-brac,  which  pleases  a  senseless  and  tri- 
fling generation. 

Our  fathers  were  men  of  stalwart  mould.  Baptized  in  the 
spirit  of  the  Reformation,  they  believed  in  the  freedom  and  lib- 
erty of  the  individual  soul,  and  out  of  this  came  a  liberality  that 
had  never  been  seen  before,  say  what  we  may  of  their  narrow- 
ness. Much  of  that  w^hich  we  talk  of  as  a  sentiment,  they  lived 
as  a  principle,  and  made  sacrifices  for,  that  it  might  exist. 
They  collected  the  seeds  for  the  tree  of  liberty  at  Worms  and 
Geneva ;  fostered  its  growth  at  Scrooby,  Braintree,  Essex,  and 
Amsterdam;  took  it  up  rooted,  with  the  names  attached,  trans- 
ported it  and  set  it  out  in  these  very  fields,  that  they  might  live 
piously  under  its  shade  and  worship  God  beneath  its  branches, 
and  not  that  it  might  grow  May-poles  to  be  danced  around. 

Our  fathers  were  reformatory,  revolutionary,  schismatic  ;  and 
in  these  qualities  they  displayed  courage  and  mental  force,  but 
these  had  not  made  them  historic  characters  worthy  to  be  so 
remembered.  Their  virtue  consisted  not  in  destruction,  not  in 
mere  negation,  not  in  breaking  up  old   temples   and  housing 


ADDRESS  BY  THE  EEV.  A.  A.  ELLSWOETH.       89 

themselves  in  the  fragments,  building  nothing  better  for  them- 
selves, not  in  eliminating  superstition  and  tyranny,  —  but  in  a 
vigorous  grasp  and  hold  of  fundamental  truth,  believed  in  with 
all  their  heart,  and  for  which  they  would  contend  with  all  their 
powers.  Because  they  were  Protestants  they  believed  not  less  in 
God,  but  more  in  God.  They  broke  with  many  of  the  symbols  of 
the  English  Church  only  because  they  believed  more  positively  in 
the  Divine  Spirit.  They  gave  up  Christmas  and  Easter  because 
their  firmer  faith  saw  Christ  walking  every  day  among  the 
churches  and  standing  by  their  side  amidst  wolves  and  Indians. 
They  held  strongly  to  man's  depravity,  but  they  held  just  as 
strongly  to  his  responsibility  under  a  moral  law,  and  thus  kept 
the  balance  of  his  real  dignity.  It  is  shocking  to  some  sensibili- 
ties to  know  that  they  believed  the  heathen  a  lost  man,  but  they 
were  not  hardened  fatalists  to  leave  him  untaught  without  the 
offers  of  salvation.  Mayhew  and  Eliot  would  blaze  the  forest 
path  with  their  bleeding  feet,  if  only  a  savage  might  learn  of 
"  justification  by  faith."  They  developed  into  republicans  and 
threw  off  the  yoke  of  British  rule,  but  they  believed  in  law  and 
order,  and  voted  themselves  poor  that  they  might  have  schools 
and  churches,  colleges  and  an  intelligent  and  righteous  legisla- 
ture. Shall  we  merely  build  the  tombs  of  the  prophets  and 
garnish  the  sepulchre  of  the  righteous  ?  Do  we  imagine  that 
the  spiritual  inertia  of  their  positive  faith  is  to  carry  us  forward 
through  all  time  without  any  added  impulse  ?  Or  will  the  res- 
toration of  what  they  threw  away  make  up  for  the  throwing 
away  of  what  they  held  as  all  important?  Will  our  modern 
agnosticism,  deification  of  science,  irresponsible  fatalism,  and 
secularism  secure  the  Church  and  State  against  man's  passions, 
unchecked  by  anything  that  may  be  called  a  positive  religion  ? 
Is  it  not  still  and  always  true  that  man's  responsibility  to  God  is 
the  greatest  truth,  and  that  after  all  our  good  works,  conscience 
always  recognizes  the  fact  that  there  is  a  margin  of  demerit 
only  to  be  balanced  by  some  method  of  forgiving  love,  and  that 
without  a  distinct  faith  in  a  peopled  heaven  where  souls  are 


90  COiMMEMORATIYE    SERVICES. 

blessed,  there  ■will  be  little  hope  of  blessedness  among  a  peopled 
earth  ?     I  would  not  that  you  should  read  life  backward. 

"  Alas  !  what  once  hath  been  shall  be  no  more ; 

The  groaning  earth  in  travail  and  in  pain 
Brings  forth  its  races,  but  does  not  restore ; 

And  the  dead  nations  never  hve  again." 

But  I  would  make  of  this  past  history  a  concave  mirror, 
catching  the  rays  of  the  present  day  and  the  concentrated  good 
principles  of  the  past,  all  to  be  focussed  into  a  beacon  for  the 
future,  shining  into  years  far  beyond,  that  liberty,  intelligence, 
and  religion  may  never  be  wanting  among  men. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Wilson  :  This  church  has  never  been 
without  the  name  of  Quincy.  It  is  the  only  name,  so 
far  as  we  know,  which  has  come  down  to  us  without  a 
break  from  Wheelwright's  church.  Nine  generations  of 
that  family  have  worshipped  in  the  meeting-houses  of  this 
society.  They  have  guided  the  councils  of  it,  honored  it 
by  their  fame,  supported  it  by  their  liberality.^  Vessels  of 
our  communion  service  bear  their  name,  and  this  ancient 
Bible  was  presented  by  one,  and  at  a  later  time  rebound  by 
another  among  the  most  honorable  of  the  family.  Very 
interesting  and  instructive  are  the  lives  of  the  Quincys, 
in  spite  of  the  difficulty  of  distinguishing  the  numerous 
Josiahs  and  Edmunds  from  one  another.  I  now  have  the 
pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Josiah  Quincy,  the  sixth 
of  that  name. 

1  The  Rev.  Mr.  Hancock  in  his  sermon  preached  the  23d  of  April,  1 738, 
on  the  "  death  of  the  Hon.  Edmund  Quincy,  Esq.,  one  of  his  Majesty's  Council, 
and  of  the  Judges  of  the  Circuit,  and  agent  for  the  Province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  at  the  Court  of  Great  Britain,"  has  the  following  :  "  And  in  token  of  his 
peculiar  affection  to  this  church,  whereof  he  was  a  leading  member  for  many 
years,  he  has  left  us  an  acceptable  legacy  in  his  last  will  and  testament.  He 
loved  us,  and  how  was  his  heart  engaged  in  buUding  us  a  synagogue  ?  " 


ADDRESS   BY   JOSIAH   QUINCT.  91 


ADDEESS  BY  JOSIAH  QUINCY. 

The  anniversary  that  we  celebrate  to-day  reminds  us  no  less 
of  change  than  of  continuity.  It  is  as  significant  in  suggesting 
the  reflection  that  ecclesiastical  organizations  and  theological 
dogmas  are  not  exempt  from  mutability  and  decay,  as  it  is  in 
recalling  the  fact  that  our  church  of  to-day  is  the  lineal  descend- 
ant of  that  which  our  fathers  planted  at  Mount  Wollaston  a 
quarter  of  a  millennium  ago,  —  the  same  church,  yet  so  changed 
in  its  forms  of  worship,  in  its  articles  of  faith,  that  its  founders 
would  scarcely  be  able  to  recognize  it ;  the  same,  yet  different, 
even  as  we,  who  have  long  since  separated  Church  and  State  and 
established  religious  liberty,  are  different  from  our  ancestors, 
who  charged  with  sedition  the  first  minister  who  preached  here, 
and  banished  him  from  their  Commonwealth  for  theological 
opinions  maintained  in  a  sermon. 

Yet  under  changing  form  is  generally  to  be  found,  if  rightly 
sought  for,  unchanging  substance ;  out  of  the  past  speaks  often 
a  living  voice  for  the  present.  The  Christian  Church  changes  ; 
Christianity  remains  the  same.  The  kernel  that  lies  concealed 
within  the  outer  envelope  is  the  same  to-day  as  when  our 
fathers  drew  from  it  the  spirit  that  supported  them  through  the 
trials  and  hardships  of  their  young  settlement ;  and  it  was  the 
same  then  as  when  it  effected  that  marvellous  conversion  of 
the  ancient  world.  The  famous  sermon  —  probably  delivered 
here  at  the  Mount  as  well  as  before  the  Church  at  Boston  —  for 
which  John  Wheelwright  was  sent  forth  into  the  wilderness 
through  the  deep  snows  of  winter,  seems  as  strangely  quaint  to 
us  in  its  theology  as  in  its  structure  and  spelling  ;  yet  trans- 
lated into  our  modern  forms  of  thought  and  expression,  the  doc- 
trine of  this  discourse,  which  has  been  well  described  as  a  bold 
one  for  any  age,  is  still  glowing  with  the  fire  wliich  blazed 
through  it  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago,  and  may  well  detain  us 
for  a  few  moments  to-day. 


92  COMMEMORATIVE    SERVICES. 

To  support  justification  by  faith  or  grace,  and  to  deny  the 
sufficiency  of  justification  by  works,  —  to  use  the  old  theological 
terms, — was  Wheelwright's  thesis;  or  to  state  generally  the  real 
essence  of  his  side  of  the  Antinomian  controversy,  of  which  this 
sermon  formed  a  part,  he  maintained  that  a  living  knowledge  of 
spiritual  truth  was  necessary,  and  that  right  conduct  alone  could 
not  take  its  place.  The  present  tendency  of  liberal  religious 
thought  is  indeed  away  from  this  opinion,  while  it  is  even  more 
at  variance  with  the  scientific  spirit  of  our  age.  But  in  memory 
of  the  fearless  and  able  minister,  let  us  briefly  look  at  what  is 
essential  in  the  doctrine  he  upheld. 

The  question  is  really  a  very  simple  one.  Does  the  purpose 
and  object  of  our  existence  lie  inside  the  world  as  it  appears  to 
us,  or  outside  of  it?  If  the  former,  right  conduct  here  is  all  suf- 
ficient, and  Christianity  has  its  chief  value  as  a  code  of  ethics ; 
if  the  latter,  conduct  cannot  be  the  final  end,  but  only  a  means 
to  a  transcendental  end.  Is  this  temporal  existence  of  man  a 
real  and  true  life,  of  which  the  life  eternal  is  only  the  sequence 
or  resultant ;  or  is  the  life  eternal  the  only  true  life,  from  which 
man  is  separated  by  the  passing  illusion  of  existence  in  the 
material  world  ?  If  we  answer  the  first  question  in  the  affirma- 
tive, we  are  substantially  under  the  covenant  of  works ;  if  the 
second,  we  are  under  the  covenant  of  faith  or  grace  preached  by 
Wheelwright. 

Neither  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  individual  man  nor  from 
that  of  the  human  race  as  a  whole  can  outward  works  be  regarded 
as  a  final  end.  The  individual  enters  the  form  of  perception  which 
we  call  the  world  through  the  door  of  birth,  leads  a  brief  existence 
of  unsatisfied  striving,  and  passes  out  again  through  the  door  of 
death.  In  no  true  sense  can  it  be  said  that  our  works  follow  us ; 
they  remain  behind  as  part  of  the  common  inheritance  of  human- 
ity, to  share  the  fate  of  humanity.  Some  few  exceptional  persons, 
fortunate  —  or  perhaps  rather,  in  a  deeper  view,  unfortunate  — 
in  the  possession  of  peculiar  temperaments  or  in  their  special 
circumstances,  are   indeed   able   to   regard   their  lives  in   the 


ADDEESS    BY   JOSIAH    QUINCY.  93 

world  of  sense  as  satisfactory  and  complete,  needing  only  to 
be  crowned  with  eternity,  and  to  see  in  their  external  works 
the  purpose  of  life  accomplished  and  existence  justified.  But 
for  the  great  mass  of  mankind  life  needs,  and  has  everywhere 
and  always  been  given,  a  transcendental  end.  In  this  the  great- 
est men  of  action  and  the  deepest  thinkers  have  agreed  with 
unlettered  peasants ;  thus  only  has  the  human  mind  been  able  to 
"  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  man."  Through  this  church  men 
have  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  sought  diligently  to  find 
that  end ;  here  two  Presidents  of  tlie  United  States  have  joined 
with  the  humblest  citizens  of  their  town  in  seeking  for  light  to 
understand  it. 

Nor  do  we  reach  a  different  conclusion  as  to  the  sufficiency  of 
works  if  we  merge  the  individual  life  in  that  of  the  race.  If  we 
view  the  human  race  as  one  continuous  organism,  and  if  we  are 
sanguine  enough  to  believe  in  the  ultimate  perfectibility  of  a 
society  governed  by  worldly  motives,  we  cannot  avoid  the  same 
difficulty  which  meets  the  individual.  For  the  words  of  Carl3'le 
are  true  no  less  of  the  human  race  taken  as  a  whole  than  of  its 
separate  members:  "We  emerge  from  the  Inane;  haste  storm- 
fully  across  the  astonished  earth;  then  plunge  again  into  the 
Inane."  Science,  which  sometimes  seems  so  hostile  to  the 
claims  of  religion,  has  established  some  facts  of  the  greatest 
value  in  forcing  us  to  the  conclusion  that  no  purpose  of  exist- 
ence can  be  found  inside  the  limits  of  the  world.  One  of  these 
facts  is  that  the  human  race  has  had  a  beginning  and  must  come 
to  an  end ;  that  the  globe  which  we  inhabit  was  evolved  out  of 
chaos,  and  only  acquired  after  the  lapse  of  ages  those  conditions 
which  make  human  life  possible ;  that  in  the  course  of  other 
ages  those  conditions  will  again  change,  and  human  life  on  earth 
can  no  longer  exist;  and  that  finally  what  came  out  of  chaos 

will  return  into  chaos,  and 

"  the  great  globe  itself, 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve, 
And,  like  an  insubstantial  pageant  faded, 
Leave  not  a  wrack  behind." 


94  COMMEMORATIVE    SERVICES. 

The  inexorable  hand  of  time  will  in  the  end  blot  out  all  hu- 
man civilization,  and  of  man  and  his  works  there  will  be  left 
no  trace.  When  the  last  page  of  history  has  been  written  it  will 
be,  if  it  have  no  significance  outside  the  world, "  a  tale  told  by  an 
idiot,  full  of  sound  and  fury,  signifying  nothing." 

These  considerations,  which  lead  some  minds  indeed  to  a 
shallow  and  unphilosophical  materialism  which  explains  noth- 
ing, properly  lead  the  way  to  transcendentalism.  From  the  irre- 
sistible logic  of  pessimism  religion  offers  the  only  escape ;  but 
it  must  be  a  religion  not  of  works  alone,  not  of  forms  or  dog- 
mas or  ethics,  but  a  religion  such  as  Wheelwright  preached,  —  a 
religion  of  grace,  of  spiritual  truth.  The  life  of  sense  is  illu- 
sion, —  its  final  object,  to  overcome  itself  and  pass  into  the  life 
eternal.  Works,  which  are  part  of  the  illusion,  are  of  value  to 
him  who  performs  them  only  as  they  bring  his  immortal  spir- 
itual individuality  nearer  to  the  final  point  of  disillusion ;  and  he 
who  is  under  the  covenant  of  grace  has  already  attained  nearer 
to  this  point  than  works  alone  can  carry  him.  And  from  that 
grace  and  spiritual  insight  will  flow,  as  the  whole  history  of 
mankind  shows,  more  works  and  better  works  for  the  benefit  of 
others  than  can  come  from  the  motives  supplied  by  any  code  of 
ethics. 

In  memory  of  another  great  preacher  of  this  church  let  us 
recall  the  pregnant  words  upon  this  subject  which  he  uttered  at 
the  celebration  of  a  half  century  ago.  "  The  vital  principle  of 
Christianity  consists  of  the  vindication  it  so  triumphantly  makes 
of  the  spiritual  principle  in  man.  It  is  a  soul-religion,  not  only 
as  distinguished  from  forms  and  rites,  but  also  and  still  more  as 
distinguished  from  a  decent  exterior,  from  a  mere  prudential 
conformity  of  the  life  to  traditions  and  usages.  It  seeks  to  re- 
generate man ;  and  this  regeneration  can  only  be  effected  by 
penetrating  as  it  does  with  its  light  into  the  mind,  and  with  its 
purity  into  the  heart,  and  by  setting  up  its  kingdom  within.  .  .  . 
The  struggle  always  has  been  between  faith  and  works ;  be- 
tween the  principle  of  religion  in  the  soul,  and  the  manifestation 


ADDRESS    BY   JOSIAH    QUINCY.  95 

of  it  in  conduct ;  between  the  living  spirit  of  piety,  and  dead 
mechanical  conformity  to  fixed  usages  and  forms." 

The  hymn  which  we  are  about  to  sing  to-day,  as  it  was  sung 
at  the  celebration  of  fifty  years  ago,  seems  to  me  in  harmony 
with  that  conception  of  religion  which  was  common  alike  to 
Wheelwright,  the  first  preacher  of  our  earliest  settlement,  and 
to  Lunt,  the  gifted  minister  who  stood  in  his  place  two  hundred 
years  later.  After  enjoying  all  of  earthly  greatness  which  his 
country  could  bestow,  John  Quincy  Adams  still  placed  the  true 
end  and  purpose  of  life  beyond  the  material  world,  and  held 
himself  justified  rather  by  faith  than  by  works.  Time  is  in- 
deed, in  his  words,  "  the  measure  but  of  change."  Eternity  is 
the  reality,  time  the  delusion.  Time  and  change  alike  are 
but  the  forms  of  our  human  consciousness.  Eternity  is  now, 
and  time  is  merely  the  veil  which  hides  it  from  us.  Religion 
lifts  a  corner  of  the  veil  and  gives  us  a  point  of  view,  if  we 
will  but  take  it,  outside  of  time,  outside  of  the  world,  outside  of 
ourselves  as  human  beings,  —  the  only  point  of  view  from  which 
the  universe,  otherwise  so  incomprehensible,  can  be  in  part  at 
least  understood.  Not  through  time  to  eternity,  but  out  of  time 
to  eternity,  is  the  true  thought.  And  to  that  now  which  is  "  in 
realms  above  "  we  can  attain  in  this  present  life,  as  did  some 
of  our  fathers  who  "  worshipped  in  this  mountain  "  of  old,  if  we 
will  seek  out  the  true  essence  of  that  religion  which  has  come 
down  to  us  from  them.  Only  as  man  conceives  of  himself  not 
as  an  organism  of  matter,  endowed  for  a  time  with  a  mysterious 
quality  called  life,  but  as  an  immortal  spirit,  passing  through 
that  form  of  consciousness  which  we  call  the  world,  but  neither 
limited  to  it  nor  having  his  real  home  in  it,  does  life  acquire  its 
true  significance.  To  borrow  again  the  words  of  Carlyle : 
"  Sweep-away  the  illusion  of  time  !  Are  we  not  spirits,  that  are 
shaped  into  a  body,  into  an  appearance,  and  that  fade  away  into 
air  and  invisibility  ?  This  is  no  metaphor ;  it  is  a  simple  scientific 
fact.  We  start  out  of  nothingness,  take  figure  and  are  appari- 
tions ;  round  us,  as  round  the  veriest  spectre,  is  eternity." 


96  COMMEMORATIVE    SERVICES. 

The  religion  of  those  who  come  after  us  may  change  as  much 
in  form  as  our  religion  of  to-day  has  changed  from  that  of  our 
ancestors;  but  that  our  descendants  will  continue  to  have  a 
religion,  and  that  its  essence  will  be  the  same  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  hence  that  it  is  to-day,  and  was  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago,  we  may  rest  well  assured.  I  can  close  with  no  better 
wish  for  the  future  of  this  church  of  our  fathers  than  that  it 
may  again  number  among  its  ministers  some  Wheelwright,  with 
both  the  power  and  the  courage  to  preach  the  spiritual  truth 
and  spare  not,  though  his  condemnation  fall  upon  his  fellow 
ministers  and  cause  "combustion  in  church  and  commonwealth;" 
among  its  laymen,  some  Coddington,  ready  to  abandon  home 
and  worldly  possessions  rather  than  give  up  his  convictions ; 
and  among  those  from  other  places  who  here  listen  to  the  Word, 
some  Henry  Vane,  ready  to  vindicate  the  great  principles  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty  even  by  laying  down  his  life  upon 
the  scaffold,  with  the  calm  fortitude  taught  by  the  gospel  of 
Christ. 

The  congregation  was  invited  to  rise  and  join  in  sing- 
ing the  hymn  written  for  the  two  hundredth  anniversary 
by  John  Quincy  Adams.  The  great  company  present 
stood  up  and  sang  two  verses  with  fervor.  Then  the 
Eev.  Mr.  Wilson  spoke  as  follows :  — 

About  fifty  years  ago  when  the  town  of  Quincy  and  all  the 
towns  of  old  Braintree  celebrated  their  two  hundredth  anniver- 
sary, the  citizens  were  disappointed  in  not  securing  President 
John  Quincy  Adams  to  deliver  the  oration.  The  affair  was 
likely  to  go  by  default,  when  the  young  men  of  the  town  came 
to  the  rescue,  and  without  much  regard  to  the  older  citizens 
went  ahead  and  arranged  the  programme.  One  of  the  orators 
selected  was  the  Rev.  George  Whitney,  son  of  the  venerated 
Parson  Whitney ;  the  young  men's  choice  for  poet  was  another 
young  man,  Christopher  Pearse  Cranch.     He  is  our  poet  to-day, 


POEM  BY  CHRISTOPHEK  PEARSE  CRANCH.       97 

his  youthful  spirit  in  no  degree  abated,  his  love  for  this  church 
and  town  as  great  as  ever.  By  name  and  descent  he  is  our 
own,  he  is  one  of  us ;  and  it  is  with  much  satisfaction  I  ex- 
tend your  welcome  to  him  on  our  two  hundredth  and  fiftieth 
anniversary. 


POEM  BY  CHRISTOPHER  PEARSE  CRANCH. 

The  mild  autumnal  day 
Is  filled  with  visionary  forms  that  pass 
Before  our  sight  as  in  some  magic  glass. 

Along  the  horizon  gray 
The  dim  procession  of  ancestral  shades 

Appears,  dissolves,  and  fades. 
Grave,  sad-robed  fathers  of  the  Church  and  State, 
Matrons  and  mothers,  mild-eyed  and  sedate. 
And  sober-suited  youths  and  home-bred  maids, 

Pledged  to  maintain  inviolate 
New  England's  earliest,  dearest  heritage,  — 
The  faith  and  conduct  of  that  sterner  age. 

Westward  across  the  rough  and  unknown  seas 
We  see  them,  an  advancing,  spreading  host,  — 

Along  the  rocky  coast 
And  'neath  the  forests  of  primeval  trees 
Building  their  simple  states  and  villages  ; 
And  in  their  midst,  like  castles  of  defence 
In  medigeval  days,  to  guard  the  tents 
And  cottages  of  those  who  clustered  round, 

Choosing  a  plot  of  ground 
Whereon  they  found  a  church,  though  called  by  a  name 

Of  more  prosaic  sound 
Than  in  the  stately  cities  whence  they  came, 
Where  proud  cathedrals  with  their  chanting  choirs 


98  COMMEMOEATIVE    SERVICES. 

Stretch  their  long  aisles  and  lift  their  solemn  spires. 

Here  first  of  all  they  rear 
With  pious  hands  and  reverence  austere 
Their  house  of  worship  and  of  brotherhood, 
Of  prayer  and  praise  and  spiritual  food, 
Symbol  supreme  of  trust  and  faith  sincere. 

Far  back  in  shadowy  lines  the  lives,  the  plans 

Of  those  old  Puritans 
Lie  sketched ;  and  though  to  us  their  acrid  creeds 
Seem  like  the  harsh  and  unripe  fruits  of  spring, 
Fitter  for  ancient  Hebrews  than  for  needs 
Of  Saxon  men  who  fled  from  priest  and  king 
And  rituals  outworn,  to  seek  across  the  sea 
A  home  for  conscience  and  for  liberty. 
Let  us  believe  their  virtues  far  outweighed 
Their  faults,  and  note  their  sunshine,  not  their  shade. 
True  to  the  essence  of  the  doctrines  taught 
And  to  the  lights  they  saw,  they  lived  and  wrought. 
Earnest  and  brave,  in  this  their  new  abode 
They  found  amid  the  wilds  a  surer  road 
Toward  freedom,  union,  purer  Church  and  State. 

Nothing  effeminate 
Or  base  was  here.     No  rank  malarial  dews 
Of  courts  corrupt  unnerved  their  sturdy  thews ; 
But  like  the  keen  salt  breeze  that  swept  along 

Their  shores  o'er  rocks  and  sands, 
From  unknown  springs  a  spirit  hale  and  strong 

Inspired  their  hearts  and  hands. 

Let  not  our  wise  noon-lighted  century  scorn 
The  narrow  opening  of  their  clouded  morn. 
The  intolerance  that  allowed  no  light  to  shine 
Beside  their  own  in  their  crypt-guarded  shrine, 
Shut  in  and  kept  for  future  times  a  law 


POEM  BY  CHRISTOPHEK  PEAESE  CRANCH.      99 

Of  life  and  duty  grander  than  they  saw. 

Our  fathers  sowed  with  stern  humility, 

But  knew  not  what  the  harvest  was  to  be. 

More  light,  they  said,  would  issue  from  God's  book, 

Not  knowing  't  was  the  deeper,  wiser  look 

The  soul  took  of  itself  that  gave  them  eyes  to  see. 

From  the  rough  gnarled  root  they  planted  here. 

Through  storm  and  sun,  through  patient  hope  and  fear. 

There  grew  a  fair  and  ever-spreading  tree, 

With  roots  fast  grappling  in  the  granite  rocks. 

Unharmed  by  cold  or  drought  or  tempest  shocks ; 

Fed  by  the  sun  and  winds  and  seasons'  change, 

It  reared  its  trunk  serenely  tall  and  fair. 

Its  boughs  diverging  in  the  upper  air 

Of  thought  and  liberty. 
Loaded  with  leaves  and  blossoms  rich  and  strange, 
And  promise  of  a  fruitage  yet  to  be 

In  the  long  centuries  of  futurity. 

The  slow-paced  years  and  ages  liave  moved  on, 

Through  life  and  death  and  change,  through  peace  and  war 

The  vast  historic  eras  come  and  gone ; 

And  from  the  climes  afar 
Primeval  woods  and  savage-haunted  coasts 

Filled  with  the  gathering  hosts, 
Till  strengthening,  widening,  great,  united,  free, 
Stretches  the  mighty  continent  from  sea  to  sea. 

And  with  increase  and  change  what  marvels  rise 

Before  our  wondering  eyes  ! 
What  new-found  powers,  what  labyrinthine  clews. 
What  heights,  what  depths,  what  vast  encircling  views  !  — 
Religion,  science,  art,  mechanic  skill. 
The  enterprise  of  trade  by  seas  and  lands. 
The  teeming  farm,  the  factory's  whirling  mill ; 
Steam  like  a  giant  with  a  hundred  hands ; 


100  COMMEMORATIVE    SERVICES. 

The  all-recording  press 
Brightening  the  dumb  world's  dreary  loneliness. 
The  voice  and  tone  of  distant  friends  brought  near ; 
Sounds  packed  away  for  unborn  ears  to  hear ; 
The  lightning  tamed,  its  blazing  pinions  furled, 

Talking  around  a  world 
By  science,  law,  humanity  subdued 

To  peaceful  brotherhood  ; 
Or  linked  to  bands  and  armatures  of  steel 
Compelled  to  tasks  of  lever  and  of  wheel. 
Or  caged  in  moony  globes  with  dazzling  ray 

Turning  the  night  to  day. 
No  chemic  power,  unchallenged,  undecoyed, 
No  blind  telluric  force  left  unemployed ; 
All  matter  subject  to  the  imperial  mind. 
Prompt  to  the  advantage  of  all  human  kind ; 
The  mystic  stars  themselves  reveal  to  man 

In  prismic  hues  defined 
Their  secret  essence  and  their  primal  plan. 
All  Nature  stoops  and  serves.     The  very  sun 
We  apprentice  as  a  painter.     Earth  and  heaven  are  won 
To  run  the  errands  of  man's  shrewdest  thought. 
In  this  vast  net  the  universe  is  caught ; 
While  in  a  larger  air  his  spirit  tends 

Toward  diviner  ends, 
Dissolving  old  beliefs,  affirming  new, 
Leaving  the  false  behind  to  grasp  the  true ; 
Or  ranging  through  the  sister  realm  of  art 

Far  from  the  crowded  mart, 
Pursuing  forms  of  beauty  and  of  power, 
Like  bees  from  flower  to  flower. 
And  e'en  Theology,  resisting  long 
The  light,  shut  in  her  fortress  grim  and  strong, 

Endures  at  last  the  change, 
And  through  all  sects  assumes  a  loftier  range, 


POEM  BY  CHRISTOPHER  PEARSE  CRANCH.      101 

Untangling  with  wise  skill  the  threads  perplexed 
Of  fundamental  truth  and  Bible  text, 
Dividing  the  pure  essence  from  the  old 
Imprisoning  form,  the  earth-dross  from  the  gold, 
The  frigid  product  from  the  warm  intent, 
The  transitory  from  the  permanent ; 
No  more  mid  strife  of  Antinomian  wars, 
Fearing  the  fading  of  its  guiding  stars. 
From  miracles  and  legends  quaint  unbound, 
No  mud  of  Genesis  can  clog  the  feet 
Of  those  who  tread  the  undisputed  ground 
Of  natural  law,  eternal  and  complete, 
And  between  science  and  religion  see 
No  conflict,  but  perpetual  amity. 

Thus  freed  from  close- walled  alleys  of  the  past 

For  broad  highways  toward  vistas  grand  and  vast, 

For  us  the  gates  of  knowledge  open  wide, 

And  the  soul's  shining  leaders  side  by  side 

Lead  onward  far  beyond  the  clouded  zone 

Of  dogmas  long  outgrown. 

A  broader  faith  has  risen  above  the  rim 

Of  the  horizon,  sad,  perplexed,  and  dim. 

Wherein  our  fathers  saw 
The  limits  of  religion,  truth,  and  law. 
The  frowning  visage  of  a  creed  austere, 
The  visions  born  of  superstitious  fear. 
The  paralyzing  touch  that  laid  its  ban 
On  the  free  instincts  of  the  natural  man. 
The  curse  that  like  a  shadow  followed  him 

With  sure  relentless  pace, 
The  imagined  sins,  detectives  vague  and  grim. 
The  dark  satanic  mask  upon  the  face 
Of  an  all-loving  Father,  fade  away 

In  a  serener  day. 


102  COMMEMOKATIVE    SEKVICES. 

No  stern,  inevitable  doom  forbids 

The  guests  of  heaven  and  earth  to  share  their  feast 

No  sad-eyed  morning  opes  its  heavy  lids. 

The  kindling  day  is  all  one  boundless  east 

For  us,  if  only  true 
To  the  great  lights  that  broaden  on  our  view. 

But  let  us  not  forget  how  firm  and  fast 
The  present  is  still  rooted  in  the  past ; 
Nor,  while  rejoicing  in  our  ampler  space, 
The  slow  steep  steps  behind  us  fail  to  trace, — 
To  note  how  gradual  is  the  growth  of  truth. 
How  old  experience  dates  its  forms  from  youth. 
So,  looking  back  to  those  who  built  tlie  shrine, 
And  met  to  hear  half  truths  they  deemed  divine, 
We  know  our  fathers  planted  here  the  root 
Of  which  the  sons  possess  the  flower  and  fruit. 
And  fitting  't  is  we  celebrate  to-day 
With  music,  wise  discourse,  and  poet's  lay, 

And  floral  offerings  gay. 
The  first  small  gathering  of  one  little  band, 
The  simple  house  in  a  wild  alien  land. 
Whose  spiritual  corner-stone  we  trust 
Still  stands,  although  its  founders  sleep  in  dust. 

These  walls,  why  are  they  reared  ? 

Not  only  for  old  memories  long  endeared, 

Nor  to  perpetuate 
Sacred  traditions  of  an  olden  date ; 
But  for  truth  loosed  from  tyrannizing  creeds, 
And  proved  in  doctrines  less  than  in  the  deeds ; 
For  weekly  interludes  of  thought  and  prayer. 
Seclusions  of  release  from  work  and  care, 
Serene  transitions  from  the  world  of  sense 
To  the  heart's  inmost  fortress  of  defence ; 


LiIBRHTATEM      AMlClTIAM      FIDEM      RBTINEBIS 


AiMJ  d«poait«d  the  Mortal  licninlns  i»f 

Son  of  John   lutd  HusKnnft  [Doyl«toTt]  Adam». 

Secona   Prcitidcnt  of  tlif   Vnitcd   StnteH. 

Burn  m  Octolicr  1733. 

On  Iht- fourtli  of  Jul/    1770 

.^d  his  Lilt.FWtunp  and  Smm-C'I  Honour 

i\,<hP  iwnEPnwDBNri!  of  hin  covxthy. 

On  (Hf  thir<l  of  Sopt.'ml.PP  17  83 
'ivtl  hi«  Seal  to  Hw  aen»»ili**  TVpftfy  wiOiflrwit  Brliaii 

Whiph  RcknoMlodjrpd   thi*t  Iiidopr-ndi-iiro. 
itd  ('onHiimmntCfl  OwlWdPiniHlouoi  ItJii  ritMl)r». 
On   ih«   fourth  of  July   It*tt6 

.r  InimortBlUy, 

A...iio  *h.'jyi»<:MKPiT  «i'  Miy  <:tti>. 

Tl.il.  Hoo-e  will  bff**  witTWM  tnhi-  i'«t;r' 
ThU  Town. hi-  Birth-ri»«»,lolM»  MunlfifWtc*'! 


At  bin  Side 
gleeps  till  tho  Trutnp  «lwll    Htiuntl 

Hi.  bi'loTnilnna  ouly  WilV. 

D>ushlcror  WiHi«iii  and  UUsabrth  [(»uln<-.vj 

In  trfry  lUU.ino  of  l.lf.  «  VrU^cu 

Of  FUiul.Cci^ugnl,  i«at<.rnal  (tiul  SotW -V> 

Morn  K™r.i.>brr  H  !*♦*. 

KocoKKfd  SIV  0<noh«F  ISlB'i 

.Vj[~l   TV, 

.■lli.rrl«il  «'«  n 
narln^  nu  L'nlon  of  i< 


Depth  luvi  CantpftM*  of  IjIb 


f;Tt-'.r.rf?iV!>^Tf^ 


POEM  BY  CHRISTOPHER  PEARSE  CRANCH.      103 

For  upright  lives,  for  strength  and  love  and  grace  ; 
For  service  of  our  country  and  our  race ; 
For  symbols  of  the  unseen  world  that  lies 
About  and  in  us,  loftier  than  the  skies, 
Deeper  than  earth  and  sea,  amid  the  war 
Of  worldly  aims  the  soul's  unchanging  star 

Of  safety  in  the  stress 
And  tide  of  passion  and  of  selfishness. 

And  gladly  would  we  note  the  noble  lives, 
The  names  whose  memory  in  this  place  survives 
In  golden  gleams  along  the  historic  thread 
That  binds  the  living  to  the  immortal  dead : 
Those  who  through  stormy  days  of  battles  grim 
The  struggling  nation's  counsels  wisely  led  ; 
And  when  her  pathway  grew  perplexed  and  dim, 
And  help  was  far,  and  hope  seemed  almost  fled, 

Lifted  her  drooping  head. 
Those  who  as  rulers  and  ambassadors  maintained 
The  strength,  the  truth,  the  honor  we  had  gained, 
And  through  successive  generations  made 
One  name  illustrious,  which  shall  never  fade ; 
Joined  with  another  of  an  old  renown,  — 
The  name  that  blends  with  Harvard's  classic  shade, 
And  syllables  your  old  familiar  town. 

Nor  less  should  we  forget  the  worthy  sons 

And  daughters  who  through  centuries  lived  and  died 

Unknown  to  fame.     The  muse  of  history  shuns 

Their  hidden  records ;  gathered  side  by  side 

In  yonder  burial-ground,  they  leave  no  signs 

Save  in  the  half-obliterated  lines 
That  tell  their  birth,  their  death.     Yet  not  in  vain, 
Fathers  and  mothers,  were  your  humble  lives ; 
Each  in  its  turn  an  influence  that  survives, 


104  COMMEMORATIVE    SERVICES. 

A  light  that  shines  again 
In  sacred  memories,  and  in  hearths  and  homes, 
Vital  as  greater  names  that  gild  historic  tomes. 

And  here  permit,  if  memory  recalls 
How  fifty  years  ago  within  these  walls,  — 

Ah,  crude  and  callow  time  !  — 
The  voice  you  hear  intoned  a  youthful  rhyme 
To  celebrate  the  founding  of  this  town. 
Then  wearing  its  well-earned  two-centuried  crown. 
Ah,  fleeting  years  of  youth !     Ah,  passage  strange 
Of  scenes  since  then  ;  mysterious  change  on  change ! 
The  venerated  forms  that  linked  my  life 
With  ancestors  revered ;  the  joy,  the  strife, 
The  blithe  companionship  of  younger  days, 
The  opening  vistas  and  the  untried  ways 
All  fade  in  broken  visions  of  the  past ; 
Yet  in  the  mould  of  later  years  recast 
They  take  a  shape  that  old  experience  lends. 
Life  is  not  loss,  but  gain  and  growth  to  ends 
Youth  could  not  know,  and  never  could  foresee. 
And  for  such  faith  what  shrine  more  fit  than  this, 
Where  past  and  present  meet  as  with  a  kiss, — 
This  temple  consecrated  in  the  fires 
Of  toil  and  thought  through  a  long  line  of  sires ; 
Here  where  the  old  beliefs  bloom  out  in  free 
Full  blossom  in  the  soul's  calm  liberty, 
And  thoughts  unknown  to  ancient  Church  or  State 
Through  daily  life  now  throb  and  penetrate. 

Here  may  the  newer  faith  accept  and  hold 
All  sound  and  reverent  virtue  of  the  old  ; 
No  lamps  of  vital  worship  left  untrimmed, 

No  high  ideal  dimmed  ; 
No  genuine  buddings  of  a  noble  life 


ADDRESS    BY    THE   REV.    C.    K.    ELIOT.  105 

Hurt  by  the  honest  thinker's  pruning  knife, 
While  thought  and  feeling  with  united  aim 
Kindle  and  keep  alive  the  sacred  flame. 

Be  such  the  mission  of  the  church,  to  link 
Young  hearts  that  feel  with  older  minds  that  think,  — 
Reason  and  faith  fast  wedded,  bound  yet  free, 
Divinely  human  life  their  progeny. 

Here  may  the  vital  truth  that  supersedes 

The  dead  forgotten  creeds 
Warm  and  persuade  the  hearts  of  young  and  old, 
And  prompt  to  lofty  thoughts  and  noble  deeds : 
A  living  church,  —  a  Christian  brotherhood 
In  all  high  effort  for  the  public  good. 
So  may  this  temple  gather  in  its  fold, 
Conspiring  with  all  agencies  that  mould 
The  race  to  higher  life,  till  it  shall  stand 

A  beacon  in  the  land, 
And  in  the  coming  centuries  ever  shine 
Steadfast,  undimmed,  still  lit  by  truth  divine. 

The  Eev.  Mr.  Wilson  :  I  introduce  to  you  now  the 
pastor  of  one  of  the  oldest  churches  in  New  England ;  a 
church  with  which  this  church  has  been  always  closely 
connected,  —  the  Rev.  C.  R.  Eliot  of  the  First  Church, 
Dorchester. 

ADDKESS   BY  THE   EEV.  C.  R.  ELIOT. 

I  BEING  you  greetings  from  the  old  church  which  has  stood  up- 
on Meeting-House  Hill  —  the  present  structure  and  its  predeces- 
sors —  since  1670.  I  bring  them  to  you  from  the  church  which 
has  walked  along  the  years  side  by  side  with  yours,  and  which 
nine  years  before  your  church  was  formed  had  its  beginning. 


106  COMMEMORATIVE    SEEVICES. 

I  come  to  bring  those  greetings  from  a  people  who  have  to- 
ward you,  as  always,  feelings  of  friendship  and  sympathy.  To 
bring  you  these  greetings  is  a  pleasant  duty  to  me,  the  minister 
of  the  First  Church.  Fortunately  it  requires  very  few  words  to 
say  some  of  the  very  best  things ;  and  so  I  can  say  it  to  you  in 
the  few  words  necessary,  that  we,  the  people  of  the  First  Church 
in  Dorchester,  greet  you  of  Quincy,  and  assure  you  of  our  friend- 
ship and  Christian  love. 

Thoughts  come  crowding  upon  me  which,  if  time  permitted,  it 
might  be  well  to  speak.  Perhaps  you  will  permit  me  to  say  one 
or  two  things.  Not  very  long  ago  there  came  into  a  home  not  a 
thousand  miles  from  where  I  live  a  very  old  cradle,  built  of  the 
strongest  oak,  for  a  very  new  comer  out  of  the  spirit  land.  I 
have  had  the  privilege  of  looking  often  upon  that  bit  of  house- 
hold furniture,  and  I  have  thought  that  if  its  oaken  panels  could 
speak  to  us,  what  stories  they  could  tell !  They  could  tell  of  a 
home  far  across  the  waters,  long,  long  ago ;  they  could  tell  of  a 
little  gathering  at  Plymouth,  England,  where  a  few  earnest  men 
and  women  came  together  to  listen  to  words  of  their  pastor,  John 
White,  and  to  be  sent  across  the  water  to  form  the  colony  here, 
near  to  you,  in  Dorchester.  They  could  tell  of  that  long  voyage 
from  March  until  June,  when  upon  the  great  cradle  of  the  deep 
they  were  rocked  through  days  and  weeks  and  months,  until  to 
these  shores  they  came  at  last  in  safety,  and  the  good  ship 
"Mary  and  John"  cast  anchor  near  Nantasket.  These  oaken 
panels  of  the  old  cradle  could  tell  of  many  things  besides. 
They  could  tell  us,  perhaps,  some  of  the  things  which  to-day 
have  not  yet  been  spoken  here,  —  they  could  tell  us  of  the  early 
settlers  of  this  land  in  which  we  live.  We  honor  the  great  men 
whose  names  have  come  down  on  the  pages  of  history,  —  men 
who  have  done  great  and  conspicuous  work  in  this  country. 
This  old  cradle  could  tell  us  of  the  tenderness  of  mothers'  love, 
of  the  faithfulness  of  many  a  sister  in  this  land,  of  noble  women 
to  whom  has  been  due  much  of  the  honor,  much  of  the  strength, 
much  of  the  sincerity,  earnestness,  and  nobility  of  the  men  who 


ADDEESS    BY   THE    EEV.    C.    E.    ELIOT.  107 

■were  able  to  lay  the  foundations  of  this  commonwealth,  of  this 
nation,  and  of  our  church.  It  is  to  honor  them,  the  women  of 
those  early  days,  that  I  speak. 

I  hold  in  my  hand  a  letter,  in  fac-simile,  of  one  of  your  states- 
men whose  name  has  been  spoken  here  to-day,  —  John  Quincy 
Adams.  One  sentence  from  that  may  be  a  part  of  the  greeting 
from  the  old  church  in  Dorchester.  It  was  written  in  1838: 
"  I  live  in  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  progressive  advancement  of 
Christian  liberty,  and  expect  to  abide  by  the  same  in  death." 
It  may  be  our  word  to  you,  and  yours  may  be  the  same  to  us,  — 
an  exhortation  that  we  all,  wherever  we  worship,  wherever  we 
live,  may  worship  and  live  in  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  progres- 
sive advancement  of  Christian  liberty,  and  abide  by  the  same  in 
death.  "  A  thousand  years  in  Thy  sight  are  but  as  yesterday 
when  it  is  past,  or  as  a  watch  in  the  night."  The  roots  of 
American  liberty  had  not  their  place  one  hundred  years,  or  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  or  five  hundred  or  one  thousand 
years  ago,  but  far  back  of  that.  Ages  have  passed,  and  slowly 
the  work  of  God  has  been  done.  God  has  brought  the  blind  by 
a  way  they  knew  not,  and  has  led  them  and  is  leading  them  in 
paths  they  have  not  known.  Jesus  little  dreamed  of  the  future 
progress  and  the  wondrous  history  of  Christianity.  The  Amer- 
ican revolution  found  its  birth  only  after  those  who  first  spoke 
here  noble  words  for  liberty  had  passed  away.  The  war  for  the 
preservation  of  our  Union  was  not  entered  upon  to  bring  free- 
dom to  the  slave,  yet  by  paths  unknown  and  to  ends  unsought 
has  the  nation  been  led.  "  I  am  found  of  them  that  ask  not  for 
me ;  I  am  known  of  them  that  sought  me  not."  So  was  it  when 
the  Puritans  came  to  our  shores ;  they  were  not  believers  in 
liberty,  but  they  opened  the  way  unconsciously  for  us;  "they 
builded  better  than  they  knew." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Wilsoit  :  In  the  record  book  of  the  old 
First  Church  of  Roxbury  there  is  a  long  obituary  poem 


108  COMMEMORATIVE   SERVICES. 

upon  the  death  of  the  wife  of  our  first  minister,  William 
Tompson  ;  other  entries  show  the  close  connection  of  the 
two  churches.  I  am  going  to  ask  you  to  listen  for  a  few 
moments  to  the  present  minister  of  that  church,  the  Rev. 
James  de  Normandie. 

ADDEESS  BY  EEV.  JAMES  DE  NOKMANDIE. 

It  is  late  to  ask  this  interested  but  weary  parish  to  listen  to 
what  it  was  my  intention  to  say.  But  I  will  detain  you  only 
for  a  moment.  It  may  be  a  matter  of  passing  regret  that  the 
First  Church  of  Christ  in  Roxbury  and  the  First  Church  of 
Christ  in  Quincy  should  have  begun  their  history  by  a  differ- 
ence which  amounted  almost  to  a  persecution  ;  and  especially 
that  the  apostle  Eliot,  by  far  the  most  commanding  figure  in 
the  ecclesiastical  history  of  New  England,  —  so  gentle,  so  sweet, 
so  devoted,  who  for  the  trouble  that  it  would  cost  him  to  untie 
his  handkerchief,  could  fling  his  whole  quarter's  salary  to  one 
asking  him  for  charity ;  who  with  bleeding  feet  wandered  day 
after  day  through  those  woods  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the 
Indians,  —  that  the  apostle  Eliot  should  have  been  willing  to 
persecute  his  Brother  Wheelwright  in  this  church.  But  if  that 
is  a  matter  of  passing  regret,  it  is  something  at  which  to  rejoice 
that  such  a  thing  could  not  happen  to-day  ;  and  that  these 
churches  are  now,  as  they  have  been  so  long,  and  as  we  trust 
they  may  be  for  centuries  to  come,  bound  together  by  that  spirit 
of  liberal  Christianity  which  for  years  they  have  so  bravely  main- 
tained. The  apostle  Eliot,  as  I  have  said,  was  a  commanding 
figure  in  New  England  history.  When  Dean  Stanley  came  to 
this  country  a  few  years  ago,  and  was  asked  what  places  he 
wanted  to  see  in  America,  he  replied,  "  Two  :  the  church  where 
the  apostle  Eliot  preached,  and  Plymouth  Rock."  I  cannot 
but  believe,  in  looking  through  the  records  of  his  life,  that  the 
apostle  Eliot  was  a  little  unwilling  to  do  what  he  did  do  at  that 


ADDRESS    BY   EEV.    JAMES   DE    NORMANDIE.  109 

time.  We  have  however  to  remember  that  he  and  his  colleague 
were  Puritans  of  the  Puritans ;  and  we  know  that  no  sincere,  de- 
voted Puritan  really  meant  that  there  should  be  any  liberty  of 
conscience,  that  anybody  should  worship  outside  the  doctrines 
which  they  so  bravely  defended,  in  which  they  lived,  and  for 
which  they  were  willing  to  die.  The  early  records  of  these 
churches  are  much  the  same  in  their  nature,  and  a  review  of 
them  for  the  past  two  centuries  might  be  made  very  helpful  as 
well  as  most  interesting  to  this  congregation,  as  you,  sir,  have 
shown.  They  tell  us,  these  records,  of  a  race  of  men  who  were 
willing  to  sacrifice  everything  for  the  spiritual  realities  in  which 
they  believed,  —  of  a  race  of  men  that  knew  no  sacrifice  too 
great,  who  stopped  at  no  stress  of  weather,  and  no  weariness  of 
week-day  work,  to  gather  into  the  sanctuary.  Why,  we  find 
mention  in  these  early  records  of  persons  coming  six,  eight, 
ten,  and  even  twelve  miles,  walking  to  church  on  Sunday, 
and  carrying  all  the  way  their  little  children  unable  to  walk. 
And  then  nothing  would  keep  them  back, —  no  little  differ- 
ence of  opinion  among  themselves,  no  little  dissension  with 
the  minister  even,  would  keep  them  back  from  the  altar  of 
worship.  It  is  told  in  the  early  history  of  the  church  of  Bed- 
ford in  this  State  that  one  Saturday  afternoon  the  minister 
was  heard  to  have  a  pretty  sharp  contention  about  some  fences 
and  cattle  with  one  of  his  parishioners  ;  and  the  contention  was 
heard  by  some  of  the  worshippers,  and  one  of  them  remarked 
that  he  ventured  to  say  that  that  neighbor  of  the  minister 
would  not  be  found  in  the  church  any  more.  But  the  next 
Sunday  morning  he  was  in  his  pew  as  usual ;  and  after  the  ser- 
vices, one  who  had  heard  the  sharp  quarrel  of  the  day  before 
said  to  him,  "  We  thought  we  should  never  see  you  in  church 
after  those  fierce  words."  "  I  'd  have  you  know,"  was  the  reply, 
"  that  though  I  did  have  a  quarrel  with  my  pastor,  I  did  not 
have  a  quarrel  with  the  gospel."  What  strikes  us  most  of  all  in 
looking  over  these  records  is  the  earnest  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath which  ran  all  through  that  history.     There  is  the  early 


110  COMMEMORATIVE   SERVICES. 

record  of  a  law  of  Massachusetts  Colony  that  "for  the  better 
observance  of  Sunday  it  is  hereby  ordered  that  on  Saturday 
afternoon,  at  three  of  the  clock,  all  those  who  inhabit  the  plan- 
tation shall  surcease  from  their  various  employments  and  gather 
for  catechizing,  as  the  minister  may  direct."  These  early 
records  are  not  only  interesting,  they  might  be  made  exceed- 
ingly helpful ;  and  while  we  pay  our  tribute  to  the  early  fathers 
of  our  churches,  what  remains  for  us  is  to  consecrate  ourselves 
to  the  spiritual  realities  for  which  they  lived.  What  is  it  to 
us  if  we  join  in  these  historical  memories,  and  yet  forget  the 
work  for  which  they  lived  and  in  which  they  died  ? 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Wilson  :  I  have  great  pleasure  in  in- 
troducing the  Rev.  Joseph  Osgood,  pastor  of  the  First 
Church  in  Cohasset,  —  the  oldest  settled  minister  of  our 
denomination  in  this  vicinity,  the  dear  friend  of  Dr. 
Lunt  and  of  Mr.  Wells. 

ADDKESS   BY  EEV.  JOSEPH   OSGOOD. 

The  experience  of  Cohasset  has  been  almost  precisely  the  same 
as  the  experience  of  Quincy  or  Braintree  church  with  regard 
to  the  First  Church  in  Boston.  It  was  only  after  long  years 
and  earnest  trouble  that  the  General  Court  ordered  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Cohasset  church.  This  Cohasset  church  has  always 
been  a  neighbor  church.  The  remembrance  of  Peter  Whitney 
was  very  frequently  recalled  in  the  Cohasset  church.  My  im- 
mediate predecessor,  Mr.  Harrison  Gray  Otis  Fitz,  was  brought 
up  under  Peter  Whitney  and  Mr.  Lunt.  He  died  after  a  short 
ministry ;  he  was  a  man  of  pure  heart,  earnest  spirit,  and  one 
very  much  beloved  by  the  congregation.  I  remember  with  great 
interest  my  long  connection  with  Mr.  Lunt.  I  was  associated 
with  him  in  various  ways,  and  also  with  Mr.  Wells,  who  was 
one  of  my  most  intimate  friends  and  associates  in  the  ministry. 


OHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 

me  J»Um  mmJ    Akis'^*'     «n>t«l>.    AJmow. 


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ADDRESS    BY   REV.    JOSEPH   OSGOOD.  Ill 

Bat  I  come  before  you  also  as  a  descendant  of  the  first  minister 
of  Braintree,  William  Tompson.  My  mother  was  christened  Eliza- 
beth Tompson  in  memory  of  this  connection ;  and  I  have  been 
reminded  by  his  early  experiences  and  mission  of  what  seems 
to  me  to  have  been  a  kind  of  mission  of  the  Quincy  church. 
You  who  have  looked  into  the  history  will  remember  that  he 
was  sent  as  a  missionary  to  Virginia.  After  a  voyage  of  three 
months  he  arrived  on  the  shores  of  Virginia.  His  labors  did 
not  seem  to  have  been  very  successful  there,  though  he  brought 
back  one  convert,  who  was  highly  prized  in  the  early  Puritan 
church.  The  Virginians  were  rather  glad  to  get  rid  of  him, 
and  did  not  wish  to  have  their  peculiar  religious  institutions 
interfered  with.  This  was  one  of  the  earliest  missionary  opera- 
tions in  the  country,  and  it  is  significant  as  indicating  in  a  cer- 
tain sense  the  spirit  of  the  Quincy  church.  Years  passed  by, 
and  another  of  your  citizens  was  sent;  and  it  was  his  high 
privilege  to  nominate  as  the  commander  of  the  armies  of  the 
Revolution  a  Virginian,  —  thus  returning  good  for  evil,  and  per- 
forming in  a  certain  way,  in  a  true  spirit,  that  kind  of  mission 
wliich  Mr.  Tompson  was  sent  to  perform  in  the  early  history 
of  the  church.  Has  it  not  been  one  of  the  great  privileges  of 
this  church  to  send  forth  throughout  the  country  words  of 
religious  and  spiritual  freedom,  words  of  pure  patriotism,  words 
of  high  statesmanship  ;  and  has  not  this  church  been  carrying 
out  the  very  work  which  in  the  ministry  of  the  First  Church 
was  inaugurated  ?  I  remember  talking  with  Charles  Francis 
Adams  the  elder,  just  as  he  was  about  to  start  for  his  impor- 
tant mission  as  a  member  of  Congress,  about  the  future  of 
political  parties,  and  about  the  organizing  of  the  House  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  —  the  House  which  was  organized  only  after 
a  long  struggle.  Have  you  ever  thought  what  effect  has  been 
produced  by  these  men  speaking  for  civil  liberty,  for  pure 
statesmanship,  and  exerting  themselves  as  they  have  done  for 
the  progress,  freedom,  and  prosperity  of  the  country  ?  As  these 
services  are  about  to  close,  can  I  say  any  better  word  to  you  for 


112 


COMMEMORATIVE   SERVICES. 


your  future  than  to  take  example  from  the  past,  and  as  your 
fathers  have  been,  so  try  to  be  yourselves  in  the  future,  carry- 
ing the  highest  principles  of  spiritual,  religious,  and  civil  free- 
dom and  uprightness  and  national  honor  into  all  the  States  of 
the  Union,  and  not  only  into  the  States  of  the  Union,  but  also 
into  all  parts  of  the  world  ?  For  our  civilization  and  our  culture 
arc  such  that  a  true  word  in  behalf  of  religion,  in  behalf  of  free- 
dom, in  behalf  of  patriotism,  in  behalf  of  the  highest  interests 
of  man,  is  flashed  over  the  whole  civilized  world,  and  may  be 
like  good  seed  sown  in  good  ground,  producing  a  hundredfold 
to  the  glory  of  God. 

The  entire  congregation  joined  in  singing  •'  Old  Hun- 
dred," and  the  services  were  closed  with  the  benediction 
pronounced  by  the  Rev.  C.  R.  Eliot  in  the  absence  of  the 
Rev.  Edward  Norton. 


During  the  exercises  the  pastor  asked  all  those  to 
stand  who  had  been  present  fifty  years  before  at  the 
two  hundredth  anniversary.  It  was  ascertained  that 
the  following  persons  participated  in  the  celebration  of 
both  anniversaries :  — 


Miss  Nancy  Brackett, 
Samuel  E.  Brackett, 
Miss  E.  C.  Adams, 
Mrs.  Sarah  C.  Underwood, 
Mrs.  Ebenezer  Adams, 
Edwin  W.  Marsh, 
J.  Eranklin  Burrell, 
Mrs.  Jos.  F.  French, 
Dexter  Pierce, 
Christopher  P.  Cranch, 
Mrs.  Ann  E.  Baxter, 
Susanna  G.  Field, 
Lucy  A.  Floyd, 


Belief  B.  Floyd, 
Wm.  L.  Brackett, 
Mrs.  Wm.  L.  Brackett, 
Mrs.  Amos  Warren  Stetson, 
Susanna  B.  Marsh, 
Geo.  L.  Gill, 
Mrs.  Geo.  L.  Gill, 
Edwin  Gill, 
Franklin  Curtis, 
Mrs.  M.  a.  Perkins, 
Mrs.  Chas.  A.  Spear, 
Mrs.  Adams  Whitney, 
Miss  Ann  Curtis. 


K^ 


LETTERS    OF    CONGRATULATION. 


AVERY  large  number  of  congratulatory  letters  were 
received  by  the  Committee  on  Invitations.  Most 
of  these  are  interesting,  some  of  them  remarkably  so ; 
and  to  leave  any  unpublished  bears  a  look  almost  of 
a  lack  of  due  appreciation.  But  in  order  to  bring  these 
pages  within  the  designed  limits  a  selection  had  to  be 
made.  So,  for  the  most  part,  there  are  here  preserved 
letters  illustrating  historical  facts,  or  from  persons  con- 
nected in  an  especial  way  with  the  Quincy  Church  and 
Quincy  people. 

LETTER  FROM  WHEELWRIGHT'S  EXETER  CHURCH. 

Exeter,  N.  H.,  Sept.  18,  1889. 
Mr.  Lewis  Bass. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  thank  you  most  heartily  for  the  invitation  to 
the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  church  -which 
Rev.  John  Wheelwright  ministered  to,  as  first  pastor,  at  Mount 
Wollaston,  now  Quincy.  It  would  give  me  much  pleasure  to  be 
present,  if  possible,  —  to  look  upon  the  faces  of  some  of  the  men 
who  have  inherited  from  Wheelwright  his  sturdy  independence 
of  character  and  resistance  to  tyranny,  whether  royal  or  ecclesi- 
astical, and  for  a  few  hours  to  breathe  with  you  the  very  atmos- 
phere of  freedom. 

The  New  England  of  to-day  is  under  immense  obligation  to 
Wheelwright  and  to  other  heretics  of  like  indomitable  spirit,  as 
well  as  to  your  famous  Adams  family,  for  the  privilege  of  think- 

8 


114  LETTERS    OF    CONGRATULATION. 

ing  and  speaking  its  deepest  and  truest  convictions  as  to  what- 
ever concerns  the  welfare  of  man. 

Twice  at  least  the  Christian  Church  has  held  full  sway.  Once 
in  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages,  under  the  Catholic  supremacy  ; 
and  again  in  Massachusetts,  under  the  Puritan  supremacy.  To 
what  were  its  failures  due  ?  I  think,  in  the  latter  case,  Mr. 
Brooks  Adams,  speaking  in  the  mildest  terms,  would  say,  to  the 
misinterpretation  of  the  spirit  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity. 

But  enough  of  this.  I  do  not  quite  see  why  you  celebrate 
your  anniversary  in  1889.  Why  not  1886  ?  Unless  I  am  in 
error  in  the  matter,  according  to  "  Winthrop's  Journal  "  and 
the  "  Short  Story,"  several  of  the  Boston  communion,  who  had 
desired  Wheelwright's  settlement  over  the  Boston  church  in 
conjunction  with  Wilson  and  Cotton  (which  settlement  Win- 
throp  resisted  and  prevented),  were  desirous  to  form  a  church 
at  Mount  Wollaston,  where  they  resided  and  cultivated  farms ; 
and  it  was  voted  without  objection,  upon  their  application,  that 
Wheelwright  be  assigned  to  them  as  their  preacher.  He  at 
once,  in  October  1636,  at  the  age  of  forty-four,  commenced  his 
pastoral  labors  at  that  place, —  afterwards  called  Braintree,  now 
Quincy.  So  far  as  appears,  Wheelwright  discharged  his  duties 
faithfully  and  acceptably  at  Mount  Wollaston,  until  he  was  ban- 
ished from  Massachusetts  in  November,  1637.  In  April,  1638, 
he  was  negotiating  with  the  Indians  for  a  tract  of  land  in  and 
around  what  is  now  Exeter,  where  he  established  in  that  year 
the  First  Church.  But  perhaps  you  have  some  most  valid 
reason  for  the  present  date  of  celebration. 

Our  own  celebration  in  June,  1888,  of  the  two  hundred  and 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  town  and  church  was  full  of  interest 
to  all  our  people,  and  an  occasion  long  to  be  remembered. 

I  sincerely  hope  your  own  celebration  will  be  worthy  of  the 
occasion  and  of  the  distinguished  men  who  have  added  lustre 
not  only  to  your  town  and  State,  but  to  our  country. 

Very  respectfully.  Swift  Byington. 

(Pastor  First  Church,  Exeter.) 


LETTERS   OF    CONGRATULATION. 


FROM  THE  KEV.  A.   C.  NICKERSON,   OF  EXETER. 

Exeter,  N.  H.,  Sept.  23,  1889. 

To  Messrs.  Charles  F.  Adams,  Lewis  Bass,  Edward  H.  Dewson,  and 
William  L.  Faxon,  Committee. 

Gentlemen,  —  From  a  New  England  town  which  a  year  ago 
celebrated  its  quarter  millennial  I  send  you  greeting  on  the 
occasion  of  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  first 
parish  of  Quincy,  Mass.  Your  first  minister,  the  Rev.  John 
Wheelwright,  a  graduate  of  Sidney  College,  Cambridge,  Eng- 
land, was  also  the  first  pastor  here,  and  the  founder  of  our 
town.  The  same  religious  freedom  which  here  he  sought  it 
has  been  the  province  and  the  pleasure  of  your  church  to 
maintain,  and  as  your  altars,  sanctified  by  the  dust  of  two  of 
America's  strongest  and  freest  sons,  shall  resound  with  fervent 
praises,  we  tender  to  you  and  your  parish  our  earnest 
felicitations. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

A.    C.    NiCKERSON. 

{Pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Church,  Exeter,  N.  H.) 


FROM  THE  REV.   EDWARD  E.   HALE,  D.D. 

RoxBURY,  Mass.,  Sept.  17,  1889. 

My  dear  Wilson,  —  I  am  very  sorry  to  say  that  I  cannot  be 
here  on  the  29th.  I  have  an  engagement  of  some  time  standing 
which  I  cannot  change. 

You  have  my  best  congratulations  on  so  remarkable  an  anni 
versary,  and  my  best  hopes  that  for  a  quarter  of  a  millennium 
more  the  church  may  be  as  useful  and  as  prosperous. 

Always  truly  yours, 

Edw.  B.  Hale. 


116  LETTERS   OF   CONGRATULATION. 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES  AND  "DOROTHY  Q." 

Beverly  Farms,  Mass.,  Sept.  18,  1889. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  I  regret  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  have  the 
pleasure  of  being  present  at  the  services  on  the  29th  of  Septem- 
ber. I  feel  as  if  the  shade  of  my  great-grandmother,  Dorothy 
Quincy,  would  be  there,  with  those  of  many  others  whose  lin- 
eage I  share  by  my  maternal  ancestry. 

I  was  pleased  to  learn  from  your  note  that  "  Dorothy  Q."  — 
my  Dorothy,  not  Governor  Hancock's,  who  was  her  niece  —  was 
born  in  1709, —  just  a  hundred  years  before  I  came  into  atmos- 
pheric existence. 

I  trust  we  shall  have  a  full  account  of  the  commemoration, 
and  shall  look  forward  to  it  with  much  interest. 

Believe  me,  dear  sir, 

Very  truly  yours, 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 


FROM  THE  REV.   R.  S.  STORRS,  D.D. 

Sunset  Ridge,  Shelter  Island  Heights, 

■Sept.  18,  1889. 

Messrs.  Charles  F.  Adams,  Lewis  Bass,  Edward  H.  Dewson,  William 
L.  Faxon,  Committee. 

Gentlemen,  —  I  should  be  most  happy  to  accept  the  invitation 
with  which  you  have  honored  me,  and  to  attend  the  services  in 
commemoration  of  the  completion  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  in  the  history  of  the  first  church  within  the  ancient  limits 
of  Braintree ;  but  public  duties  require  my  presence  elsewhere 
on  the  day  of  your  proposed  celebration. 

Your  stone  temple,  built  in  my  boyhood,  used  to  excite  my 
admiring  awe  whenever  I  passed  it  in  my  father's  chaise  or  in 
Mr.  Gillett's  stage-coach.     I  thought  it  then  probably  a  rival  of 


DOROTHY  Q. 


[From  the  Original  Painting. 1 


DOROTHY    Q. 


Grandmother's  mother:  her  age,  I  gues?, 
Thirteen  suiiiiiiers,  or  fouiething  less  ; 
Girli.-h  bust,  but  womanly  air; 
Saiooth,  .square  forehead  with  uiiroUed  hair, 
Lips  that  lover  has  never  kis.--ed  ; 
Taper  fingers  and  slender  wrist  ; 
Hanging  sleeves  ofstiiT  brocade,  — 
So  the}-  painted  the  little  maid. 

On  her  hand  a  parrot  green 

Sits  unmoving  and  broods  serene. 

Hold  up  the  canvas  full  in  view,  — 

Look  1  there  's  a  rent  the  light  shines  through, 

Dark  with  a  century's  fringe  of  dust  : 

That  was  a  lled-Coafs  rapier-thrust ! 

Such  is  the  tale  the  lady  old  — 

Dorothy's  daughter's  daughter  —  told. 


Wiio  the  painter  was  none  may  tell,  — 
One  whose  best  was  not  over  well ; 
Hard  and  di"y,  it  must  be  confessed. 
Flat  as  a  rose  that  has  long  been  pressed  ; 
Yet  in  her  cheek  the  hues  are  bright, 
Dainty  colors  of  red  and  white, 
And  in  her  slender  shape  ai'e  seen 
Hint  and  promise  of  stately  mien. 

Look  not  on  her  with  eyes  of  scorn,  — 
Dorothy  Q.  was  a  lady  born  '. 
Ay,  since  the  galloping  Normans  came, 
England's  annals  have  known  her  name  I 
And  still  to  the  three-hilled  rebel  town 
Dear  is  that  ancient  name's  renown  ; 
For  many  a  civic  wreath  they  won. 
The  youthful  sire  and  the  gray-haired  son, 
Otirar  Wendell  Holmes. 


Boiix  IX  THE  OLD  QrixcY  jNIaxsiox. 

Dorathy.  v^  Dano;litt'r  of  iMlmiind  Quinsey.  Esq''.,  &  M*  Doratliy,  his  wife, 
was  born  v"  -4'^  Jamiai'v,  1701).  —  Braintree  Records. 


Bai'tizfd  i!y  tiik  Rkv.  Joseph  Marsh. 

Colonel  Quincey's    family    all    bajitized,    April    30,    1721.  —  First    Church 
Record.^. 

Admitted  to  Full  CoM:Mrxiox  by  the  Rev.  John'  Hax'COCk. 

Dorothy,  daughter  of  Col.  Quincy,  ]\Iay  2s,  1727.  —  First  Church  Records. 

INIauried  to  Edward  Jackson,  of  Boston,  December  7,  1  73S. 
Died  in  1  702. 


Her  son.  Jonathan  Jackson,  had  a  daughter  Sarah,  who  married  the  Rev. 
Abiel  Holmes,  father  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 


LETTEES   OF    CON^GRATULATION.  117 

Solomon's  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  with  Rev.  Mr.  Whitney  for  its 
high  priest.  This  early  impression  might  not  be  altogether 
reproduced  if  I  were  to  be  with  you  now;  but  I  hope  that  a 
Christian  prosperity  and  usefulness,  solid  and  spacious,  may 
mark  the  progress  of  your  Society  through  its  second  quarter- 
millennium. 

Very  truly  yours,  R.  S.  Storks. 


FROM  THE  REV.    THOMAS  HILL,   D.D. 

Portland,  Me.,  Sept.  23,  1889. 
To  Charles  F.  Adams,  Lewis  Bass,  and  others.  Committee. 

Brethren  in  Christ,  —  I  am  sorry  that  it  will  not  be  in  my 
power  to  join  with  you  in  the  celebration  to  which  you  so  kindly 
invite  me  for  next  Sunday  afternoon.  My  interest  in  the  First 
Church,  Quincy,  goes  back  nearly,  if  not  quite,  to  the  time  when 
my  first  interest  in  national  politics  made  me  grieve  that  one  of 
its  most  honored  members  failed  of  re-election  to  the  Presidency 
of  the  United  States ;  and  that  interest  has  by  no  means  been 
diminished  by  the  very  pleasant  recollections  which  I  carry  now 
for  nineteen  years  of  the  kind  way  in  which  many  attempts  to 
serve  you  were  received  during  the  temporary  absence  of  your 
pastor. 

Very  truly  yours,  Thomas  Hill. 


FROM  THE  REV.   CALEB  D.   BRADLEE,  D.D.,  PH.D. 

Boston,  Sept.  17,  1889. 
Lewis  Bass,  Esq.,  Quincy,  Mass. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  have  received  this  day  your  very  kind  invita- 
tion, in  behalf  of  the  committee,  to  attend  the  services  in  com- 
memoration of  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  foundation  of  the  First  Church,  Quincy,  that  are  to  take 
place  on  Sunday,  September  29,  at  2  p.  m.  ;   and  although  my 


118  LETTERS    OF    CONGRATULATION. 

engagements  on  the  day  named  will  be  such  as  not  to  permit  me 
to  be  present,  none  the  less  do  I  thank  you,  and  those  whom  you 
represent,  for  the  courtesy  extended,  and  rejoice  with  you  in 
your  sacred  memories  of  the  past,  in  your  great  success  in  the 
present  under  the  consecrated  teachings  of  your  faithful  pastor, 
and  in  your  glorious  hopes  for  the  future. 

Respectfully, 

Caleb  D.  Bradlee. 


FROM  MR.  CHARLES  BRECK,  AGED  NINETY-TWO. 

To  Lewis  Bass,  Esq.  For  the  Committee  of  Invitation  for  the  Celebration 
of  the  Two  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  First  Church  in 
Quincy. 

Gentlemen, — For  your  kindness  in  remembering  me  you 
have  my  sincere  thanks.  Under  other  circumstances  I  should 
have  been  most  happy  to  have  joined  you  in  celebrating  the  day ; 
but  the  weight  of  almost  fourscore  and  twelve  years  admon- 
ishes me  to  be  very  careful  about  exposing  myself  in  such  public 
meetings.  There  are  probably  but  very  few  beside  myself  who 
can  remember  attending  the  old  church  longer  than  I  can.  It 
is  seventy-eight  years  ago  last  spring  since  I  first  attended  wor- 
ship in  that  church.  I  remember  its  situation  and  many  of  its 
occupants  very  well,  —  the  venerable  and  never-to-be-forgotten 
Rev.  Peter  Whitney  in  the  pulpit,  beside  him  the  venerable 
James  Brackett,  with  his  ear-trumpet,  that  no  sound  or  word 
should  be  lost.  The  deacons'  seats  below  were  occupied  by 
Deacons  Veasie  and  I  think  Spear ;  in  the  pews  the  venerable 
John  Adams,  Ex-President  of  the  United  States ;  and  oft  beside 
him  in  later  years  his  honorable  son,  J.  Q.  Adams,  who  was  one 
of  the  most  attentive  listeners  to  the  discourses  that  I  ever 
noticed ;  the  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  and  many  other  distinguished 
characters,  with  their  families.  In  the  choir  there  was  Heze- 
kiah  Bass  with  his  large  bass-viol,  John  Pray  with  his  fiddle. 


LETTERS    OF    COKGEATULATION.  119 

Capt.  Josiah  Bass  with  his  noble  voice  to  lead  the  singing,  old 
Mr.  Hayden,  tjthing-man,  with  his  long  pole  to  keep  us  boys  in 
order,  and  with  which  the  disorderly  were  very  sure  to  receive 
a  smart  rap. 

And  when  I  compare  those  times  with  the  present,  I  could  but 
wish  that  I  was  able  to  attend  your  celebration  and  hear  some- 
thing of  its  origin  and  growth  to  the  time  which  I  remember. 
There  is  one  thing  which  I  often  think  of  when  I  compare  the 
old  churches  —  with  their  bare  wooden  seats,  when  the  women 
were  obliged  to  carry  foot-stoves  filled  with  coals  to  keep  from 
freezing,  and  the  men  and  boys  sat  shivering  through  a  long 
service,  with  the  thermometer  near  or  quite  at  zero  —  with  the 
costly  churches  of  the  present  day,  warmed  to  summer  heat 
throughout,  their  neat  and  comfortable  seats,  and  short  services  : 
does  pure  religion  keep  pace  with  the  other  improvements  ?  If 
so,  all  may  be  well.  But  when  in  the  silent  watches  of  the  night 
I  am  conning  over  these  things,  and  taking  myself  for  an  exam- 
ple, I  think  there  is  great  room  for  improvement  before  I  can 
hear  those  joyful  words,  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful,"  These 
things  are  worth  pondering  upon  and  remembering  by  the  young 
as  well  as  by  the  old. 

In  that  old  church  I  heard  the  first  temperance  discourse 
which  I  can  remember,  some  seventy  or  more  years  ago.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Norton,  of  Weymouth  I  think,  had  exchanged  with  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Whitney.  In  his  discourse  he  gave  the  number  of  in- 
habitants of  a  certain  town,  without  naming  it  (some  supposed  it 
was  Quincy,  and  that  it  was  a  plan  to  administer  a  rebuke  which 
Mr.  Whitney  did  not  wish  to  do  himself),  and  the  large  quantity 
of  liquors  which  were  consumed  there  yearly,  and  the  misery 
which  was  occasioned  thereby.  Rum-drinking  was  so  common 
in  those  days  that  the  discourse  made  but  little  impression,  except 
to  be  ridiculed ;  yet  we  trust  that  in  after  years  his  good  advice, 
by  one,  at  least,  was  not  forgotten,  and  we  trust  never  will  be. 

Charles  Breck. 

Milton,  Sept.  22,  1889. 


120  LETTERS   OF    CONGRATULATION. 


FROM  THE  REV.  HENRY  A.   MILES,  D.D. 

HiNGHAM,  Sept.  18,  1889. 
To  Mr.  Lewis  Bass,  of  the  Committee  of  the  First  Church  in  Quincy. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  am  honored  by  the  invitation  to  attend  the 
services  commemorative  of  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  the  Quincy  church. 

None  of  our  oldest  churches  have  inspired  me  with  a  pro- 
founder  respect.  It  is  not  merely  the  eminent  men  whose 
names  are  indissolubly  connected  with  it,  nor  my  recollections 
of  the  sainted  Lunt,  —  the  only  one  of  your  pastors  whom  I  much 
knew,  —  but  quite  as  much  the  consistent  spirit,  the  unity  of  pur- 
pose, which  has  run  through  its  whole  history,  never  locked  up 
in  an  unprogressive  theology,  and  never  opening  its  doors  to  the 
vagaries  of  radicalism. 

As  I  pass  in  the  train  through  your  new  city  I  never  need 
the  shining  dome  on  your  church  to  remind  me  of  the  historical 
glory  that  covers  that  temple. 

I  am  slowly  recovering  from  a  protracted  illness,  and  have  as 
yet  gone  only  a  few  rods  from  my  house.  It  will  be  impossible 
for  me  to  be  with  you  on  the  29th  instant,  and  I  can  only  send 
to  you  my  heartiest  and  best  wishes. 

Very  cordially  yours, 

Henry  A.  Miles. 


FROM  JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS. 

Dear  Sir,  —  It  will  be  a  great  gratification  to  me  to  attend 

the  delivery  of  your  occasional  discourse  on  Sunday  the  22d, 

and  an  equal  disappointment  that  by  reason  of  an  engagement 

already  entered  into  to  spend  the  29th  at  Wareham,  I  shall  not 

be  able  to  be  present  at  the  celebration. 

Yours  truly,  J.  Q.  Adams. 

Sept.  21,  18S9. 


THE     ADAMS     MANSION. 


A   CORNER    IN   THE    DRAWING   ROOM    OF  THE   ADAMS    MANSION. 


HELIOTYPE  PRINTING  CO.,    80 


LETTERS    OF    CONGEATULATION.  121 

FROM  THE  PILGRDIS'  CHURCH  AT  PLYMOUTH. 

Plymouth,  Mass.,  Sept.  26,  1889. 
Mr.  Lewis  Bass,  Quincy,  Mass. 

Dear  Sir,  —  It  is  with  regret  that  I  am  compelled  to  decline 
the  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  services  of  commemoration  to 
be  held  in  the  First  Church  in  Quincy  on  Sunday  next. 

The  duties  of  my  own  pulpit  require  my  presence  here. 

The  First  Parish  in  Plymouth  sends  greeting  and  congratu- 
lations  to  her  younger  sister,  with  best  wishes  for  continued 

prosperity. 

Sincerely  yours, 

Chas.  p.  Lombard. 


FROM  THE  REV.  R.   C.  WATERSTOK 

Mountain  Cottage,  Whitefield,  N.  H., 
Sept.  20,  1889. 
Lewis  Bass,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  desire  through  you  to  acknowledge  with 
thanks  your  kind  invitation  to  attend  the  two  hundred  and 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  First  Church  of  Quincy,  —  an  occa- 
sion of  sacred  interest  and  which  must  be  in  every  respect  a 
most  memorable  occasion. 

Nothing  could  give  me  greater  pleasure  than  to  participate 
in  such  a  commemoration ;  but  I  exceedingly  regret  that  the 
condition  of  my  health  is  such  as  to  render  it  impossible.  In 
thought  and  in  spirit  I  shall  be  with  you,  cherishing  with  you 
grateful  remembrance  of  those  remarkable  and  illustrious  men 
who  have  gone  forth  from  that  church  to  fill  with  honor  the 
most  responsible  stations  in  the  gift  of  their  country,  and  to 
leave  behind  them  names  which  the  nation  and  the  world  de- 
light —  ai  ever  will  delight  —  to  hold  in  the  highest  veneration 
and  gratitude.     While  they  were  beloved  by  the  church,  they 


122  LETTERS    OF    CONGEATULATION. 

were  also  the  benefactors  both  of  their  country  and  the  world. 
The  associations  awakened  by  such  a  commemoration  must  in- 
evitably strike  their  roots  deep,  and  spread  their  influences  far 
and  wide. 

No  church,  I  cannot  but  think,  on  this  whole  continent,  has 
reason  to  cherish  with  such  gratitude  the  memories  of  the  past. 

To  be  present  at  such  a  commemoration  would  be  the  great- 
est possible  privilege,  which  nothing  but  the  condition  of  my 
health  could  cause  me  to  forego.  With  many  thanks  for  your 
kind  remembrance, 

I  am,  most  respectfully  and  sincerely,  yours, 

E.  C.  Waterston. 


FROM   THE   EEV.    G.   M.   BARTOL. 

Lancaster,  Mass.,  Sept.  27,  1889. 
Mr.  Lewis  Bass,  Quincy. 

Dear  Sir,  —  The  invitation  of  the  First  Church  of  Quincy, 
by  its  committee,  for  the  29th  instant,  was  received  with  un- 
usual pleasure. 

Any  retrospect  of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  now  so 
near  completion  must  be  a  gratifying  one,  bearing  witness  to 
repeated  and  successful  efforts  for  the  extension  of  civil,  re- 
ligious, and  industrial  freedom,  of  just  and  humane  principles, 
and  of  knowledge  and  intelligence  among  the  mass  of  the  people 
by  improved  methods  of  instruction  and  the  multiplication  of 
free  libraries.  In  the  promotion  of  all  these  ends  a  long  line 
of  good  and  wise  and  faithful  men  connected  with  your  religious 
society  have  borne  a  noteworthy  share.  And  surely  it  is  well 
that  the  chain  which  unites  its  coming  anniversary  with  the 
memories  of  what  they  were  and  what  they  have  done  should  be 
strengthened  and  brightened,  as  it  will  be,  by  your  proposed 
observance. 

Anv  commemoration  which  makes  the  past  predominate  over 


LETTERS   OF   CONGRATULATION.  123 

the  present  and  the  future,  or  which  makes  more  of  the  date  of  an 
event  than  of  the  event  itself,  —  forgetting  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  the  precise  fixing  of  a  date,  because  no  almanac  of  ours 
can  give  us  a  perfect  measure  of  time, —  is  false  and  superstitious ; 
but  a  commemoration  which  associates  the  particular  occasion 
with  events  that  illustrate  important  principles,  is  legitimate,  and 
■wholesome  in  its  effects.  It  inculcates  those  principles  more 
forcibly  upon  us.  It  makes  us  feel  the  unity  of  the  past  with 
the  present,  and  of  the  present  with  the  future,  the  unity  of  all 
being,  and  the  unity  of  all  portions  of  the  great  providential 
plan  which  is  ever  working  out  the  purposes  for  which  we  were 
placed  where  we  are. 

Be  pleased  to  accept  herewith  an  assurance  of  our  cordial 
thanks  for  your  thoughtful  remembrance  of  the  First  Church  of 
Lancaster.  I  am  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  add  my  sincere  regret 
in  finding  that  other  engagements  must  prevent  me  from  avail- 
ing myself  of  a  privilege  which  I  should  so  highly  esteem. 

With  earnest  desires  that  the  occasion  may  prove  as  pleasant 
and  profitable  to  all  interested  as  you  yourselves  can  wish, 
Very  respectfully  and  truly, 

George  M.  Bartol. 


FROM  THE  HOX.  JOHN  D.  LONG. 

Boston,  Sept.  18,  1889. 
Dear  Mr.  Wilson,  —  I  regret  very  much  that  I  cannot  avail 
myself  of  your  very  kind  invitation  to  the  church  commemora- 
tion at  Quincy  on  the  29th;  but  I  expect  to  be  away  on  that 
Sunday,  and  my  engagements  are  such  that  I  cannot  change 
them.  It  will  certainly  be  a  memorable  occasion,  and  I  send 
my  most  cordial  good  wishes. 

Very  truly  yours, 

John  D.  Long. 
Rev.  D.  M.  Wilson,  Quincy. 


124  LETTEES   OF    CONGRATULATION. 

FROM   THE   REV.   JOHN   CORDNER,   D.D. 

Boston,  Sept.  18,  1889. 
Mr.  Lewis  Bass. 

Dear  Sir,  —  Many  thanks  to  your  committee  for  the  courtesy 

of  an  invitation  to  your  proposed  commemoration  September  29. 

The  First  Church,  Quincy,  has  an  honorable  record,  and  lias  had 

in  the  past,  as  it  has  in  the  present,  names  eminent  in  public 

and  private  life.     It  would  be  to  me  a  great  pleasure  to  be  with 

you  on  an  occasion  so  interesting ;  but  I  feel  that  I  must  deny 

myself.     The  state  of  my  health  just  now  compels  me,  much  to 

my  regret,  to  decline  your  very  kind  invitation. 

Truly  yours, 

John  Cordner. 


FROM  THE  REV.   GEORGE   S.  BALL. 

Upton,  Sept.  18,  1889. 

To  the  Committee  on  Invitations  to  attend  the  Services  in  Commemoration 
of  the  Completion  of  Two  Hundred  and  Fifty  Years  of  the  First  Church 
in  Quincy. 

Gentlemen,  —  I  thank  you  most  heartily  for  your  cordial  invi- 
tation to  be  present  at  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary 
services  of  your  church.  It  has  a  most  marked  history,  and  one 
well  worthy  commemoration.  The  ministers  and  laymen  of  it 
have  been  distinguished  for  scholarship  and  statesmanship, — 
for  abilit}',  piety,  and  public  influence. 

During  the  ministry  of  that  marked  scholar  and  eloquent 
preacher,  Rev.  William  P.  Lunt,  whose  death  was  such  a  loss 
to  your  church  and  the  community  at  large,  I  became  somewhat 
interested  in  the  society  and  acquainted  with  its  history.  Mr. 
Lunt  quite  frequently  exchanged  pulpits  with  me,  to  the  great 
delight  of  my  people  at  Plymouth.  To  me  the  opportunity  to 
hear  him  preach  was  a  very  great  pleasure,  and  in  his  most 
inspired  moments  he  impressed  me  as  among  the  great  pulpit 


LETTERS    OF    CONGRATULATION.  125 

orators.     Your   invitation   and   anniversary   recall  these   days 
before  the  war. 

I  am  also  interested  anew  by  dear  friends  who  are  now  mem- 
bers of  your  parish,  and  deeply  regret  a  combination  of  circum- 
stances which,  I  fear,  will  prevent  me  from  being  present  as  I 
desire  to  be. 

I  know  it  must  be  a  deeply  interesting  occasion.  May  it  also 
be  a  profitable  one,  coming  to  you  as  an  inspiration  for  fuller 
life  as  the  years  go  by. 

In  the  bonds  of  fellowship, 

I  am  most  truly  yours,  Geo.  S.  Ball. 


FROM  THE  REV.   GEORGE  A.   THAYER. 

Cincinnati,  Sept.  18, 1889. 
Lewis  Bass,  Esq. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  I  should  be  very  glad  if  just  at  this  time  I 
could  be  a  resident  of  some  town  nearer  Quincy  than  is  my  Ohio 
home,  that  I  might  join  in  the  celebration  to  which  you  kindly 
invite  me,  of  your  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  church  anniversary. 
But  a  thousand  miles  is  not  easily  traversed  in  a  busy  season, 
and  I  must  be  content  to  rejoice  in  the  spirit  with  your  people 
over  what,  to  a  dweller  in  one  of  the  newer  sections  of  a  com- 
paratively youthful  and  recent  republic,  seems  an  exceeding  ven- 
erable age,  —  an  age  which  does  not  consist  solely  in  number  of 
years,  but  in  honorable  service  to  all  the  higher  interests  of  the 
community  in  which  the  church  has  lived.  To  an  institution  as 
well  as  to  an  individual  the  words  of  the  book  of  "  Wisdom  " 
apply :  "  Honorable  age  is  not  that  which  standeth  in  length 
of  time,  .  .  .  but  wisdom  is  the  gray  hair,  and  an  unspotted  life 
is  old  age."  And  such  maturity  certainly  belongs  to  the  career 
of  excellent  service  for  God  and  for  man  of  which  your  people 
are  about  to  take  a  retrospect. 

Very  truly  yours,  George  A.  Thayer. 


126  LETTERS    OF   CONGRATULATION. 

FROM  THE  REV.   CHARLES  NOYES. 

North  Andover,  Sept.  25,  1889. 
Mr.  Lewis  Bass. 

Dear  Sir,  —  It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  attend  the 
services  of  the  First  Church,  Quincy,  in  commemoration  of  its 
completion  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  My  pulpit  duties 
at  North  Andover  on  September  29  will  not,  however,  allow 
me  to  be  present. 

I  regret  this  the  more  because  I  was  once  honored  with  an 
invitation  to  become  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  and  have  fol- 
lowed with  special  interest  the  record  of  its  welfare  and  prosper- 
ity. May  its  future  history  tell  of  as  faithful  services  to  the 
cause  of  truth  and  righteousness  as  does  that  of  the  past  two 

hundred  and  fifty  years. 

Truly  your  friend, 

Charles  Noyes. 


FROM  SAMUEL  A.  BATES. 

South  Braintree,  Sept.  20,  1889. 

Messrs.  Adams,  Bass,  Dewson,  and  Faxox,  Committee  of  First  Church, 
Quincy,  Mass. 
Many  thanks  for  your  kind  invitation  to  the  two  hundred 
and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  your  church.     If  nothing  prevents,  I 
shall  be  present  on  that  occasion  to  enjoy  with   you  the  re- 
hearsal of  the  noble  deeds  of  our  fathers  who  established  on 
our  soil  the  principles  which  have  in  the  past  governed  the 
nation,  and  which  I  trust  in  the  future  will  guide  its  destinies 
with  success.     May  success  attend  your  efforts  in  endeavoring 
to  throw  light  upon  the  past  history  of  your  churcli,  and  of 
keeping  the  acts  of  those  sires  green  in  our  memories !     Again 
thanking  you  for  your  kind  invitation, 
I  remain  yours  truly, 

Samuel  A.  Bates. 


LETTEES   OF    CONGRATULATION.  127 


FROM  MRS.  F.   AUGUSTUS  WHITNEY. 

Allston,  Sept.  19,  1889. 
Mrs.  F.  Augustus  Whitney,  in  acknowledging  the  cordial  in- 
vitation of  the  committee  to  the  commemorative  services  of  the 
First  Church  in  Quincy,  feels  great  regret  that  illness  will  pre- 
vent her  being  present  on  an  occasion  in  which  she  feels  deep 
interest  as  being  associated  with  the  society  so  closely  identified 
with  the  early  interests  of  her  late  husband  and  of  his  family. 


FROM  THE  REV.   A.   B.   MUZZEY. 

Cambridge,  Sept.  20,  1889. 

The  First  Church,  Quincy,  the  parent  and  home  of  great  men, 
nationally,  intellectually,  and  spiritually,  and  so  honored  in  its 
long  history,  does  wisely  and  justly  in  commemorating  its  two 
hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  by  special  services. 

For  these  reasons,  and  drawn  also  toward  your  church  as  I 
am  by  personal  relations  and  associations,  I  accept  with  pecu- 
liar pleasure  their  cordial  invitation,  and  although  eighty-seven 
years  of  age,  trust  nothing  will  prevent  my  attendance. 

Aetemas  B.  Muzzey. 


FROM  SELECTMEN  OF   TOWNS  IN  OLD  BRATNTREE. 

noLBROOK,  Mass.,  September,  1889. 
Mr.  Lewis  Bass. 

Dear  Sir,  —  Your  invitation  for  the   29th  is   received,  for 
which  accept  our  thanks.     "We  will  endeavor  to  be  present. 

Yours, 

Abram  C.  Holbrook, 

Chairman  of  Selectmen. 


128  LETTERS    OF    CONGRATULATION. 

Randolph,  Mass.,  Sept.  20,  1889. 
Lewis  Bass,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir,  —  Your  invitation  to  selectmen  to  attend  the  ser- 
vices in  commemoration  of  the  completion  of  the  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  of  the  First  Church,  Quincy,  has  come  to  hand, 
and  the  selectmen  have  voted  to  accept  the  invitation  and  be 
present  at  the  services.     With  many  thanks  for  the  invitation, 

I  am  yours  respectfully, 

Michael  J.  Daly, 

Secretary  of  Selectmen. 


Braintree,  Sept.  23,  1889. 
Mr.  Bass. 

Your  invitation  to  attend  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  the  formation  of  the  First  Church  is  received,  and 
thanking  you  for  the  same,  will  be  pleased  to  attend. 

Nathaniel  F.  Hunt, 

For  the  Selectmen  of  the  Town  of  Braintree. 


FROM  THE  REV.  S.  H.  WINKLEY. 

Boston,  Sept.  18,  1889. 
Mr.  Lewis  Bass. 

Dear  Sir,  —  Permit  me  through  you  to  thank  the  committee 
for  its  kind  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  coming  two  hundred 
and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  First  Church  in  Quincy.  I  have 
two  services  for  that  afternoon,  which  will  prevent  my  accept- 
ing the  same.  What  a  grand  history  that  church  has !  And 
what  names  inscribed  upon  its  roll!  May  its  future  be  even 
more  successful  than  its  past ! 

Regretfully, 

S.    H.    WiNKLEY. 


LETTEES  OF  CONGKATULATION.         129 


FROM  THE  REV.  EDWARD  H.  HALL. 

Cambridge,  Sept.  20,  1889. 
My  dear  Mr.  Wilson,  —  I  have  just  received  your  note  and 
the  official  invitation  to  your  anniversary,  and  feel  of  course  the 
greatest  interest  in  the  celebration.  It  seems  like  a  continua- 
tion of  our  own  three  years  ago,  and  I  should  be  extremely 
sorry  not  to  have  our  church  represented.  Unfortunately,  how- 
ever, it  will  be  quite  impossible  for  me  to  get  over  in  time  for 
the  entire  exercises,  even  if  I  can  get  to  you  at  all.  I  have  a 
meeting  immediately  after  the  morning  service  which  will  pre- 
vent my  reaching  the  1.30  train  ;  and  if  I  understand  the  time- 
table aright,  there  is  no  other  train  till  5,  —  which  will  be  too 
late,  I  suppose,  for  any  of  the  ceremonies.  If  it  were  possible, 
I  would  come  in  for  what  little  I  could  get  at  the  close.  I  need 
not  say  how  much  I  regret  this,  as  otherwise  I  should  enjoy 
coming  very  much,  and  should  do  my  best  to  say  a  few  words 
of  greeting.  Hoping  that  the  occasion  will  be  an  altogether 
successful  one, 

I  am  sincerely  yours, 

Edward  H.  Hall. 


FROM  THE  REV.   CRAWFORD   NIGHTINGALE. 

AsHMONT,  Dorchester,  Sept.  17,  1889. 

Dear  Sir,  —  The  card  of  invitation  to  the   commemorative 

services  at  Quincy  on  the  29tli  instant  was  received  with  much 

pleasure.     The  occasion  will  have  a  special  interest  for  me,  as 

my  ancestors  for  several  generations  were  residents  of  "that 

part    of    Braintree    now   called   Quincy."     Among  them   was 

Joseph   Nightingale,   who    married    Hannah    Bass,    and    who 

named  as  executors  of  his  will  "  Samuel  Sewell  and   Samuel 

Bass,  his  trusty  friends  and  kinsmen,  and  John  Adams." 

Yours  truly, 

Crawford  Nightingale. 

9 


130  LETTERS  OF  CONGRATULATION. 

FROM  THE  OLD  HINGHAM  CHURCH. 

HiNGHAM,  Sept.  23,  1889. 
The  First  Parish  in  Hingham  accepts  with  pleasure  the  in- 
vitation of  the  First  Church,  Quincj,  to  send  representatives 
to   its   commemorative    services,   September   29,   and  has   ap- 
pointed four  delegates  for  that  purpose. 

Cordially  and  respectfully  yours, 

Ebed  L.  Ripley, 

Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  First  Parish  in  Hingham. 


FROM  HARRISON  J.   DAWES. 

Newton  Centre,  Sept.  20,  1889. 
Mr.  Lewis  Bass. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  am  very  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  decline  the  in- 
vitation  to  be  present  at  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  the  founding  of  our  church.  My  health  does  not 
permit  of  my  going  out.  In  behalf  of  the  Committee  on  Invi- 
tation please  accept  my  regrets,  and  also  my  heartfelt  good 
wishes  for  the  continued  prosperity  of  the  society. 
Respectfully, 

Harrison  J.  Dawes. 


FROM  THE  REV.  EDWIN  DAVIS. 

Orange,  Mass.,  Sept.  27,  1889. 
Mr.  Bass. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  wish  gratefully  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
a  very  kind  invitation  from  the  committee  who  have  the  matter 
in  charge  to  attend  the  celebration  of  the  two  hundred  and 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  formation  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Parish  in  Quincy.  I  regret  exceedingly  that  circum- 
stances beyond  my  control  compel  me  to  be  absent  from  town 
on  the  29th  instant,  which  were  they  otherwise  would  permit  me 


LETTERS    OP   CONGEATULATION.  131 

to  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  being  present  with  you  at  that  time. 
Be  assured  of  my  interest  in  the  event,  and  accept  the  assurance 
that "  though  absent  in  body,  I  am  present  in  spirit."  Thanking 
the  Committee  for  their  kind  invitation, 

I  am,  fraternally  yours, 

Edwin  Davis. 


FROM  THE  REV.  F.   FROTHINGHAM. 

Old  Orchard,  Me.,  Sept.  26,  1889. 
Mr.  Lewis  Bass,  Quincy,  Mass. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  I  beg  you  to  accept  my  thanks  for  your  kind 
invitation  on  behalf  of  the  First  Church  of  Quincy  to  the  cele- 
bration of  its  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary.  How  gladly 
would  I  be  present  to  share  in  the  memories  and  associations  of 
an  occasion  so  rich  in  both  !  But  I  am  away  from  home,  and 
must  deny  myself  the  privilege.  But  I  cordially  express  the  hope 
that  the  celebration  of  your  anniversary  may  be  not  only  full 
of  good  inspiration  from  the  long  past,  but  abound  in  good 
promise  and  augury  for  the  longer  and  may  it  be  the  ever- 
improving  and  greatening  future.  With  all  good  wishes, 
I  remain,  dear  sir,  your  and  its  friend  and  servant, 

Fredk.  Frothingham. 


FROM  GEORGE  GREENLEAF  DAWES. 

Boston,  Sept.  23,  1889. 
Mr.  Lewis  Bass. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  received  an  invitation  from  the  First  Church 
of  Quincy  to  be  present  at  their  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anni- 
versary. It  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  be  present ;  but  I  feel  a 
great  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  church  wherein  I  was  reared, 
and  where  my  ancestors  for  many  generations  have  worshipped. 
Thanking  you  for  remembering  me, 

I  am  very  truly  yours, 

George  Greenleaf  Dawes. 


PRELIMINARY    PROCEEDINGS. 


AT  the  annual  parish  meeting,  the  11th  of  March,  1889,  the  fol- 
lowing named  persons  were  appointed  to  make  all  arrangements 
for  the  proper  celebration  of  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  the  gathering  of  First  Church :  — 

Rev.  D.  M.  Wilson,  Charles  Francis  Adams, 

Edward  H.  Dewson,  Lew^is  Bass, 

William  Lyman  Faxon,  Mrs.  William  B.  Rice, 

Mrs.  Wilson  Tisdale,  Mrs.  J.  Franklin  Faxon, 

Mrs.  John  Q.  A.  Field,  Mrs.  Thomas  A.  Whicher. 

A  meeting  of  this  committee  was  held  soon  afterward.  The  pas- 
tor acted  as  chairman,  and  Mr.  Lewis  Bass  was  chosen  secretary. 
It  was  decided  to  have  the  commemorative  services  on  the  afternoon 
of  Sunday,  the  29th  of  September,  1889,  and  to  invite  several  gen- 
tlemen to  deliver  addresses.  The  pastor  announced  that  he  would 
preach  two  introductory  sermons,  —  one  on  the  morning  of  September 
22,  and  the  other  on  the  morning  of  September  29.  The  following 
sub-committees  were  then  appointed  to  cany  out  the  arrangements 
in  detail :  — 

Committee  on  In&itations. 
Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams,      Mr.  Edward  H.  Dewson, 
Mr.  Lewis  Bass,  Mr.  William  Lyman  Faxon. 

©n  Programme. 

Rev.  D.  MuNRO  Wilson,  Mr.  L  H.  H.  Johnson, 

Mr.  Harry  L.  Rice. 


134 


PRELIMINARY   PROCEEDINGS. 


©n  Eectption  of  (gufjstg. 


Mr.  Edward  H.  Dewsox, 
Mr.  George  L.  Gill, 
Mr.  Joseph  L.  Whiton, 
Mr.  J.  Henry  Emery, 
Mr.  Joseph  C.  Morse, 


Mr.  Charles  A.  Rowland, 
Mr.  John  Q.  A.  Field, 
Mr.  Frank  B.  Foster, 
Mrs.  J.  Franklin  Faxon, 
Mrs.  Lewis  Bass, 


IVL-s.  John  0.  Holden. 


©n  ©Ewratuing. 


Mr.  Fred  B.  Rice, 
Mr.  Edward  Whicher, 
Mr.  William  I.  Dewson, 
Mrs.  William  B.  Eice, 


Mrs.  George  B.  Wendell, 
Mrs.  Eben  C.  Stanwood, 
Mrs.  George  L.  Keyes, 
Miss  Minnie  J.  Pratt. 


Mr.  William  B.  Rice, 
Mr.  George  H.  Field, 
Mr.  Henry  M.  Faxon, 


©n  Mvisic. 


Mr.  John  Shaw,  Jr., 
Mrs.  Wilson  Tisdale, 
Mrs.  Horace  F.  Spear, 


Miss  Abby  C.  Chamberlin. 


©n  Eefrcs|)mmt0. 


Mrs.  Thomas  A.  Whicher, 
Mrs.  John  Q.  A.  Field, 
Mrs.  James  H.  Stetson, 
Mrs.  M.  A.  Perkins, 
Mrs,  James  H.  Slade, 


Mrs.  RuFus  Foster, 
Mrs.  Ibrahim  Morrison, 
Mrs  George  W.  Morton, 
Mrs.  Samuel  Crane, 
Mrs.  Eugene  N.  Hultman. 


Mr.  Henry  H.  Faxon, 
Mr.  Edwin  B.  Pratt, 
Mr  James  Edwards, 


©n  iFinance. 


Mr.  Charles  H.  Porter, 
Mr.  J.  Franklin  Faxon, 
Mr.  Luther  S.  Anderson. 


PKELIMINARY  PROCEEDINGS.  135 


OUR    QUARTO-MILLENNIAL    CHOIR. 


William  B.  Rice,  iearfer.        Abby  C.  Chamberlin,  Organist. 

Sopranos, 
Mrs.  Horace  F.  Spear,  Miss  May  McPhail, 

Miss  Minnie  W.  Litchfield,        Miss  S.  Elizabeth  Ackerman, 
Mrs.  Cyrus  T.  Sherman,  Miss  Grace  Isaacs, 

Miss  Laura  Hayward. 

Tenors. 
James  F.  Harlotv,  Walter  M.  Packard, 

George  Harvey  Field. 

Altos. 
Mrs.  George  Harvey  Field,        Miss  Mary  Gardner, 
Mrs.  Walter  M.  Packard,  Mrs.  William  Austin  Winslow, 

Miss  LiLLiE  Taber,  Miss  Lillie  Scammell. 

Basses. 
Peter  B.  Gomez,  George  Arthur  Sherman, 

Charles  H.  Porter,  Jr.,  J.  Franklin  Burrell, 

Cyrus  T.  Sherman. 


APPENDIX. 


THE  COVENANT. 

THE  following  is  the  original  Covenant  which  was  pre- 
sented when  the  Church  was  gathered,  and  then  signed 
by  the  two  ministers  and  six  others.  The  Rev.  John  Hancock 
printed  it  with  his  sermons  preached  at  the  close  of  the  first 
century  of  our  Church's  existence  :  — 

"We  poor  unworthy  creatures,  who  have  sometime  lived  without 
Christ  and  without  God  in  the  world,  and  so  have  deserved  rather 
fellowship  with  the  devil  and  his  angels  than  with  God  and  his 
saints,  being  called  of  God  out  of  this  world  to  the  fellowship  of 
Christ  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Gospel,  and  our  hearts  made  willing 
to  join  together  in  Church  Fellowship,  so  by  the  help  and  strength 
of  Christ,  renounce  the  devil,  the  wicked  world,  a  sinful  flesh,  with 
all  the  remnants  of  Anti-Christian  pollution  wherein  sometimes 
we  have  walked,  and  all  our  former  evil  ways,  and  do  give  up  our- 
selves, first  to  God  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  offer  up 
our  proffered  subjection  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  only  Priest, 
Prophet  and  King  of  his  Church,  beseeching  him  in  his  rich  grace  and 
free  mercy  to  accept  us  for  his  people  in  the  blood  of  his  Covenant ; 
and  we  give  up  ourselves  also  one  to  another  by  the  will  of  God, 
promising  in  the  name  and  power  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
worketh  in  us  both  to  will  and  to  do  according  to  his  good  pleasure, 
to  worship  the  Lord  in  Spirit  and  Truth,  and  to  walk  in  brotherly 
love  and  the  duties  thereof  according  to  the  will  of  the  Gospel,  to 
the  edification  of  the  body  and  of  each  member  therein,  and  to  be 
guided  in  all  things  according  to  God's  revealed  will,  seeking  to 
advance  the  Glory  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  head,  both  in  Church  and 
Brotherly  Communion,  thro'  the  assistance  of  his  Holy  Spirit  which 
he  hath  promised  to  his  Church ;  and  we  do  manifest  our  joint  con- 


138 


APPENDIX. 


sent  herein  this  day  in  presence  of  this  assembly,  by  this  our  present 
public  profession,  and  by  giving  to  one  another  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship. 

"  Wm.  Tompson,  Pastor.  John  Dassett. 

Henry  Flynt,  Teacher.  William  Potter. 

George  Rose.  Martin  Saunders. 

Stephen  Kinsley,  Elder.  Gregory  Belcher." 


THE  DEACONS. 


Samuel  Bass, 
Alexander  Winchester, 
Richard  Brackett, 
Francis  Eliot, 
William  Alice, 
Robert  Parmenter, 
Samuel  Tompson, 
Thomas  Bass. 
Joseph  Penniman. 
Nathaniel  Wales. 
Benjamin  Savil. 
Moses  Paine. 
Gregory  Belcher. 
Peter  Adams, 
Samuel  Savil, 
Jonathan  Webb, 
John  Adams, 
Joseph  Palmer, 
Moses  Belcher, 
Joseph  Neal,  Jr., 
Daniel  Arnold, 
Benjamin  Bass, 
Ebenezer  Adams, 
Jonathan  Webb. 
Elijah  Veazie. 
Jonathan  Bass. 
JosiAH  Adams. 
Daniel  Spear, 
Samuel  Savil, 
William  Spear, 
James  Newcomb, 
Elijah  Baxter, 
George  Baxter, 
Thomas  G.  Fenno, 


July  5,  1640, 
"     12,     " 
«     21,  1642, 
Oct.  12,  1653. 

li         u  « 

Nov.  2,  1679. 


Aug.  21,  1727. 

u        ii  a 

May  11,  1747. 

((        a         a 

"      29,  1752. 


"       3,    1769, 

"        1,  1771. 

Nov.  3,    1773. 


Received  to  Communion. 
Dismissed  from  Boston  Church. 


Jan.  27, 

1811. 

Oct.  24, 

1817. 

Nov.  22, 

1835. 

((    a 

(( 

April  4, 

1844. 

Died  Feb.  2, 

1868. 

July  21, 

(C 

"  Dec.  14, 

1870. 

Jan.  20, 

1861. 

"  Jan.  11, 

1865. 

APPENDIX.  139 


MEETING-HOUSES. 

It  was  the  making  repairs  much  needed  in  the  old  stone  meet- 
ing-house which  opened  the  way  for  the  introduction  of  the  pew 
system,  as  the  following  vote  indicates :  — 

"  October  22,  1697. 

"  Voted  at  the  same  time  that  upon  the  drawing  up  or  uniting  the 
men's  seats  with  the  women's  in  the  present  alley,  any  Roome  being 
left  after  alterations  in  the  meeting-house,  any  person  with  consent  of 
the  Committee  Selectmen  may  at  their  own  proper  charges  mak  pews 
for  themselves  and  familys."     (Braintree  Records,  p.  36.) 

Then  it  was  that  the  aspiring  person  spoken  of  in  the  second 
discourse  asked  permission  to  huild  the  pew  over  the  pulpit. 
Seats  at  this  time  must  have  been  very  scarce  in  the  meeting- 
house, every  available  place  occupied,  to  lead  the  respectable 
Mr.  Rawson  to  make  this  cherubic  exhibition  of  himself  and  the 
members  of  his  household.  One  would  give  much  to  see  them 
soberly  seated  up  there  above  the  dignified  deacons,  and  right 
over  the  didactic  minister  Fiske.     Here  is  the  vote :  — 

"October  22,  1697. 
"  Voted  also  at  the  same  time  that  M'.  William  Rawson  should 
have  priviledge  of  making  a  seate  for  his  familie,  between  or  upon 
the  two  beams  over  the  pulpit,  not  darkening  the  pulpit."     (Braintree 
Records,  p.  36.) 

For  ten  years  or  so  Mr.  Rawson  and  his  family  looked  down 
upon  his  fellow- worshippers  and  his  minister ;  then,  in  1709,  it 
was  voted  "  that  M''  William  Rawson  sen""  shall  have  the  Liberty 
of  a  Pew  on  the  back  side  of  the  meeting-house  for  himself  and 
all  his  Family  at  the  left  hand  of  M'  Wilson's  Pew,  M""  Wilson's 
and  M""  Quinsey's  Pews  being  removed  back  to  y®  wall."  But  it 
was  a  standing  difficulty  to  dispose  of  Mr.  Rawson.  Two  votes 
more,  one  in  1710  and  the  other  in  1711,  were  taken  before  he 
was  finally  seated  in  "  a  second  Pew  home  to  the  wall,  at  the 
west  end  of  the  meeting-house." 


140  APPENDIX. 

These  pews,  by  the  way,  were  granted  with  the  most  liberal 
conditions.  Captain  Wilson,  who  was  the  first  to  obtain  permis- 
sion to  build  one,  was  allowed  to  put  it  in  whatever  convenient 
place  he  should  elect,  and  Joseph  Crosby,  to  secure  room  enough 
for  his,  was  granted  leave  to  move  the  east  door  about  four  feet 
to  the  northward.  To  do  this,  he  stoned  up  the  old  door,  and 
then  tore  down  the  wall  to  make  the  new  door.  Although  those 
of  the  "  south  end "  had  withdrawn,  the  floor  was  soon  covered 
with  seats  and  pews,  and  then  David  Bass  thought  he  discovered 
a  vacant  spot  by  the  east  window  where  a  pew  might  be  squeezed 
in,  and  applied  for  the  space.  But  this  was  too  much  crowding 
even  for  the  men  of  those  days,  and  accordingly  the  vote  passed 
in  the  negative.  The  passion  for  exclusiveness  also  got  posses- 
sion of  John  Sanders  and  Samuel  Savel,  and  it  was  voted  they 
"  should  have  the  Two  hindermost  short  seats  in  the  gallery,  in 
the  southwest  side  of  the  meeting-house  extending  to  the  Beams, 
for  a  Pew  for  their  wives  and  children."  Aristocracy  and  exclu- 
siveness might  have  dominion  on  the  ground  floor ;  but  in  the 
gallery,  —  no  !  the  boys  were  there,  the  tireless  baiters  of  tithing- 
men.  When  Sanders  and  Company  came  one  Sunday  to  occupy 
their  new  pew,  they  found  it  a  wreck.  Some  five  months  after 
they  had  obtained  the  coveted  privilege,  "it  was  put  by  the 
Moderator  whether  they  would  Relinquish  their  Right  to  their 
Pew,  which  was  broken,  to  the  Precinct.  They  then  did  both 
thereupon  Resign  their  Right  to  y®  Precinct."  No  second  at- 
tempt, I  believe,  was  made  to  build  a  pew  in  the  galleries. 

I  have  tried  to  make  a  plan  of  this  old  church  after  the  pews 
were  all  arranged  in  it,  and  think  I  have  been  fairly  successful. 
The  building  was  so  nearly  square  that  the  same  wall  was  some- 
times called  a  side  and  sometimes  an  end.  So  I  have  assumed 
it  was  thirty-five  feet  square.  The  pews  can  be  placed  with  tol- 
erable accuracy  ;  they  could  be  placed  with  entire  accuracy  if 
one  could  be  sure  where  the  stairs  to  the  women's  gallery  were 
situated.  I  have  drawn  them  in  the  northwest  corner ;  they 
may  have  been  in  the  southwest  corner.     But  after  all  it  is  only 


APPENDIX. 


141 


a  matter  of  the  order  of  the  pews  against  the  west  wall,  —  they 
being  described  as  first  from  the  women's  stairs,  second  from 
the  women's  stairs,  etc.  It  is  to  be  taken  into  consideration, 
however,  that  seats  and  pews  were  placed  with  no  such  regularity 


SOUTHEAST. 


Minister's. 

No.  2.     1701. 


Pulpit. 

Deacons'  Seats. 


Table. 


Benj.  Webb. 
No.  10.     1714. 


To  Men's 
Gallery, 


Men's  Seats. 

Women's  Seats. 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

Maj.  John  Quincy. 
No.  8.    17x2. 


Capt.  John  Wilson. 
No.  I.     1700. 


Col.  Ed.  Quincy. 
No.  3.     1709. 


Capt.  Mills. 
Lieut.  Cleverly. 
Ensign  Adains. 
Ensign  Baxter. 

No.  7.     1712. 


No.  6.    171X. 


Wm.  Rawson. 


No.  4.     1711. 


Sam.  Spear. 


No.  5.    1711. 


To  Women's 
Gallery, 


NORTHWEST. 


and  symmetry  as  would  appear  by  the  plan.  The  figures  indicate 
the  order  and  the  year  in  which  the  pews  were  built.  An  open- 
ing is  left  for  a  west  door,  but  I  am  not  sure  that  there  was  one. 
The  old  stone  meeting-house,  unused  and  dismantled  of  belfry 
and  windows,  was  permitted  to  stand  in  the  little  town  common 
till  1747,  when  it  was  sold  at  auction  to  Serg.  Moses  Belcher 


142  APPENDIX. 

and  Mr.  Joseph  Nightingale  for  £100,  old  tenor.  At  one  time  it 
was  proposed  to  convert  it  into  a  poor-house,  but  upon  consider- 
ation it  was  found  not  to  be  easily  adapted  to  that  use. 

Hancock's  meeting-house  was  sixty  feet  in  length  by  forty 
feet  in  width  (inside  measurement).  The  committee  chosen  to 
build  it  "  were  Col.  Edmund  Quincey,  Major  John  Quincey,  Lieut. 
Joseph  Neall,  Mr.  Benjamin  Beall,  Deacon  Peter  Adams,  Ensign 
Samuel  Baxter,  and  Mr.  Joseph  Crosbey."  "  Then  the  question 
was  asked  whether  the  said  house  should  be  accomidated  with 
Pews  as  conveniently  as  may  be,  it  passed  in  the  affirmative." 
Pews  were  still  such  an  innovation  that  it  was  not  to  be  taken 
for  granted  they  would  be  built  in  the  new  meeting-house  ;  and 
the  vote  to  have  them  is  not  to  be  taken  as  implying  that  the 
entire  floor  and  the  galleries  were  to  be  occupied  by  them,  as  in 
modern  churches.  The  half-way  system  in  vogue  in  the  later 
years  of  the  old  stone  edifice  was  carried  over  into  the  new 
building.  The  floor,  for  the  most  part,  was  still  to  be  covered 
with  the  two  rows  of  the  "  men's  seats "  and  the  "  women's 
seats,"  and  the  front  of  the  galleries  was  reserved,  the  south  one 
for  the  women,  the  north  one  for  the  men.  Thus  the  pews  were 
mainly  set  against  the  walls.  They  were  of  the  little-square- 
roora  description,  and  were  disposed  of  in  five  lots,  as  follows : 
"eight  pews  at  X25,  twelve  at  X15,  eight  at  =£12,  six  at  £10, 
and  six  at  £1,  and  in  the  galleries  twenty  pews,  viz.,  eight  in 
the  front  against  the  wall  at  £10;  and  (if  it  be  thought  conve- 
nient) six  on  each  side  (against  the  wall)  at  £8."  John  Adams, 
afterwards  deacon,  was  the  clerk  at  this  time,  and  he  records  an 
"  account  of  the  persons  who  drew  pews  in  the  new  meeting- 
liouse,  and  of  the  situation  of  the  said  pews  as  the  same  were 
drawn  persuant  to  a  rule  agreed  upon  for  that  end  the  fourteenth 
day  of  August,  1732."  It  is  from  that  account  and  other  min- 
utes that  the  diagram  under  the  picture  of  the  church  on  a  pre- 
ceding page  is  made.  Pews  in  the  galleries  at  about  the  same 
time  were  also  disposed  of  to  the  following  persons :  Lieut. 
Thomas  Crosby,  Deacon  Samuel  Savel,  Samuel  Adams,  Nathan- 


APPENDIX.  143 

iel  Gilbird,  Joseph  Crosby,  Jr.,  Aaron  Hayward,  Thomas  Clev- 
erly, William  Hayden,  Jr.,  Ezekiel  Crane.  On  a  higher  level  still 
Capt.  Samuel  Baxter  built  him  a  pew  above  the  women's  stairs 
in  the  gallery,  and  Lieut.  Joseph  Crosbey  was  granted  the  sim- 
ilar place  above  the  men's  stairs.  In  time,  more  pews  were  built 
on  the  ground  floor,  usurping  the  place  of  the  benches,  and  the 
remaining  benches  were  joined  together  in  some  places  across 
the  aisle,  and  short  seats  put  up  where  any  room  was  to  be  had, 
so  that  at  last  only  those  expert  at  it  could  thread  the  devious 
path  among  tliem.  From  the  memoirs  of  the  wife  of  President 
Quincy  (she  came  here  in  1798)  the  following  view  of  the  in- 
terior of  the  church  at  a  later  time  is  obtained :  — 

"  The  pews  in  the  centre  .  .  .  having  been  made  out  of  long  open 
seats,  by  successive  votes  of  the  town,  were  of  different  sizes,  and 
had  no  regularity  of  arrangement,  and  several  were  entered  by  nar- 
row passages,  winding  between  those  in  their  neighborhood.  The 
seats  being  provided  with  hinges  were  raised  when  the  congregation 
stood  during  the  prayer,  and  at  its  conclusion  thrown  down  with  a 
momentum  which  on  her  first  attendance  alarmed  Mrs.  Quincy,  who 
feared  the  church  was  falling.  The  deacons  were  ranged  under  the 
pulpit,  and  beside  its  door  the  sexton  was  seated,  while  from  an 
aparture  aloft  in  the  wall  the  bell-ringer  looked  in  from  the  tower 
to  mark  the  arrival  of  the  clergyman.  The  voices  of  the  choir 
in  the  front  gallery  were  assisted  by  a  discordant  assemblage  of 
stringed  and  wind  instruments." 

Not  altogether  by  the  "  poorer  sort "  were  the  "  seats  "  occu- 
pied. Very  many  of  the  most  respectable  people  in  the  parish 
filled  them.  Here  is  a  record  in  illustration :  "  Whare  as  Mrs. 
Mary  Norton  hath  of  late  given  to  Braintree  North  Precinct  a 
Velvet  Cushen  of  Considerable  Value.  Voted,  that  thanks  be 
Returned  to  the  said  Madm.  Norton  for  the  Gift  aforesaid,  and 
that  she  be  invited  to  tak  the  upper  end  of  the  fore  seet  for  her 
seet  in  the  new  Meeting-House."  It  was  on  these  "  fore  sects  " 
that  John  Adams  as  a  boy  saw  from  his  father's  pew  near  the 


144  APPENDIX. 

pulpit  those  rows  of  "  venerable  heads,"  a  sight  which  affected 
liim  deeply.  The  invasions  began  to  be  made  upon  the  seats, 
when  on  April  4th,  1757,  it  was  voted,  "  That  the  Ground  upon 
well  the  two  hindermost  seats  on  each  side  the  Midle  Alley  Stand 
Be  Disposed  of  in  order  that  Pues  may  Be  rested  their  on  by  ye 
Purchers,  provided  four  appear  for  that  porpus."  The  expected 
"  Purchers  "  were  of  those  who  sat  on  the  seats ;  the  discomfort 
suggested  in  the  word  "  Purchers  "  is  not  intentional,  but,  sitting 
in  our  luxurious  modern  pews,  we  may  regard  it  as  a  "  palpa- 
ble hit." 

The  choir  came  into  existence  in  March,  1764.  The  following 
is  a  vote  recorded  at  that  time :  "  That  the  two  seats  in  the  front 
Gallery  Be  Divided  By  an  Alle  in  the  Midle  of  Sd  seats  To  acomi- 
date  those  persons  that  have  Ben  att  Pains  and  expense  to  Gain 
Instruction  in  the  Use  of  Psalmody,  and  that  the  Division  next 
the  Wemans  Sects  Be  their  Part."  In  1772  they  were  invited  to 
"  acomidate  "  themselves  below,  where  the  "  men's  hind  seats  " 
and  the  "  women's  hind  seats  "  are  "  now  standing,"  and  in  1794 
they  were  coaxed  back  into  the  gallery  again. 

In  1805  the  church  was  enlarged  "  by  sawing  the  building 
lengthwise  with  the  ridge  pole,  from  north  to  South,  moving  the 
front,  or  west  portion  of  the  same,  fifteen  feet  forward,  and  fram- 
ing in  the  intermediate  space."  A  little  before  this  the  stairs 
to  the  galleries  in  both  the  west  corners  were  removed,  and 
entrances  to  the  galleries  effected  by  the  tower  on  the  north 
side,  and  by  a  tall  porch  on  the  south  side.  The  ground  floor 
of  the  church  as  thus  altered,  and  as  it  appeared  when  the  build- 
ing was  taken  down,  in  1828,  was  represented  in  the  Rev.  George 
Whitney's  History  of  Quincy.  This  we  print,  not  only  because 
it  shows  us  the  plan  of  the  pews,  but  also  because  it  shows  us 
who  were  the  members  of  the  parish  at  this  time,  and  how  they 
disposed  themselves  (see  page  145). 

To  make  the  list  of  pew-owners  complete,  we  add  those  who 
held  pews  in  the  galleries  :  Bryant  Newcomb,  Capt.  Benjamin 
Page,  Alpheus  and  Lemuel  Spear  one  pew  between  them,  George 


APPENDIX. 


145 


Spear,  Ebenezer  Bent,  Thomas  Adams,  Solomon  and  Josiah 
Nightingale  one,  Ezra  Glover,  Daniel  Spear.  "  The  first  four 
pews,"  says  Mr.  Whitney,  "  were  in  the  east  end  of  the  south 


Billings  S 


EAST.    6i  feet. 


b-^ 


Is 


Ss 


ITS  >   f  ■E'c 
c  rt   c  .2-  b/ 


o      Gen. 
*"    Taylor. 

Ministry.    24 

I  Presidents. 

Baxter.     25 

47    Glover. 

Baxter.     23 

2  Greenleaf. 

Dea.  Spear    , 
&  N.  Bent.  =" 

46    Fenins. 

Mayo.     22 

3  Nightingale 

Baxter.     27 

45    Glover. 

Jenkins.    21 

4      Tufts. 

Newcomb.  28 

44      Hall. 

Thayer  & 
Brigham.   ^ 

5    Riddle. 

Curtis.     29 

43    Souther, 

Capt  Bass.  19 

6   Baxter. 

Curtis.      30 

42    SaviL 

Greenleaf  *** 

Judge 
'      Adams. 

Deacon    „ 
Savil.      31 

41    Pope. 

S.  Spear.     17 

8     Briesler. 

Crane  & 
Mshtingale3- 

40    Green. 

Beale.     16 

9    MiUer. 

Baxter 

&  Wild.    33 

39    Apthorp. 

E.  Spear.  15 

to  Quincy. 

Quincy.     34 

38    Appleton. 

WillettA     , 
French.     '•* 

Shaw  & 
"  Chubbuck. 

Hardwick,   35 

37    Billings. 

Brackett  &  „ 
Newcomb  '3 

B.  &  I. 

'^      Fax6n 

Bass.     36 

'  Phipps. 


S99^ 

en -0.0 


Pray. 


Porch.        WEST. 
GROUND   FLOOR  AFTER   THE   ALTERATIONS    OF   THE   BUILDING   IN   1805. 


gallery,  and  were  occupied  by  the  owners.  The  others  were  on 
the  back  of  the  west  gallery,  most  of  the  owners  occupying  their 
pews  below." 

It  is  instructive  to  know  how  this  same  congregation  seated  it- 
self in  the  Stone  Temple  when  it  was  ready  for  worship,  in  1828, 
and  we  append  a  diagram  made  at  that  time  (see  page  146). 

It  would  be  a  complete  presentation  of  pew-owners  if  to  the 
above  plan  could  be  added  a  plan  of  the  galleries.  No  such 
plan,  however,  is  to  be  found.  I  wrote  to  a  lady,  familiar  all  her 
days  with  the  church  and  its  people,  with  regard  to  the  occupants 
of  the   galleries,  and   received   this  for  answer :    "  I  can  only 


146 


APPENDIX. 


PEWS  IN  THE  NEW  STONE  MEETING-HOUSE,   QUINCY. 
134  ON  THE  Floor,  22  in  the  Gallekies. 


i 

a 

PDLPIT. 

a 

a 

•a 

u 

n 

1 

B 

CS 

■a 

1 

u 

1 

00 

3 

M 

CO 
CO 

T   CO 

zof- 
•a 

t.M-< 

a 

o 

lO 

03 

00     . 

0 

.a 

2 

1 

."> 

- 

" 

O 

^ 

a 

.B 

o 

1-5 

11:5 

87 

86 

49 

46 

10 

Tho.  Adams. 

J.  White- 
more. 

Parish. 

Capt.  J. 
AVhitney. 

Wm.  Baxter. 

Wm. 

Baxter,  Jr. 

124 

88 

85 

50 

47 

11 

Capt. 

Isaac  Bass. 

Sam.  Cop- 

D. Greenleaf. 

Dea. 

James 

Batcheldor. 

land. 

D.  Spear. 

Baxter. 

123 

89 

84 

51 

46 

12 

S.  Littlefield. 

E.  W.  Samp- 

Gen.  T. 

Hon. 

N.  Curtis. 

A.  Willett. 

son. 

Taylor. 

T.  Greenleaf 

122 

90 

83 

52 

45 

13 

Harvey 

Isaac  Riddle. 

Harvey 

E.  Miller. 

Cotton 

S.  Nightin- 

Field. 
121 

Field. 

Tufts. 

gale. 

91 

82 

53 

44 

14 

Elisha 

Dea.  S.  Savil. 

J.  Williams. 

Geo.  W. 

Josiah 

Paul  Wilde. 

Marsh. 

Beale. 

Nii^htingale. 

120 

92 

81 

54 

43 

15 

J.  Brigham. 

Ezra  Glover 

Nath.  White 

Hon. 
J.  Q.  Adams. 

James 
Newcomb. 

J.  Briesler, 
Jr. 

119 

93 

80 

55 

42 

16 

D.  French. 

Lem.  Pope. 

Adam 
Curtis. 

Hon. 
J.  Quincy. 

Mrs.  Baxter. 

Wm.  Wood. 

118 

94 

79 

56 

41 

17 

P.  Turner. 

J.  Bass,  Jr. 

Henry 
Wood. 

Hon. 
J.  Quincy. 

Tho.  B. 
Adams. 

Doct.  T. 

Phipps. 

18 

117 

95 

78 

57 

40 

Mrs.  Fenno 

Hor.  Glover. 

Capt. 
J.  Bass. 

John 
Souther. 

F.  Hardwick. 

James 

Edwards. 

19 

116 

96 

77 

58 

39 

Capt. 

John  Savil. 

N.  Josselyn. 

J.  Brigham. 

Elijah  Spear. 

John 

B.  Page. 

Glover,  Jr. 

115 

97 

76 

59 

38 

20 

Josiah  Sayil. 

John  L. 

Elihu 

Capt.  0. 

Eli.sha 

T.  J.  Night- 

Souther. 

Arnold. 

Jenkins. 

Marsh. 

ingale. 

114 

98 

60 

37 

21 

L.  Baxter. 

A.  Hard- 
wick. 

75 

Eben.  Shaw. 

Josiah 
Hayden. 

Tho. 
Nottage. 

113 

99 

36 

22 

Tho.  Taylor. 

Jos,  Burrell 

74 

61 

Geo. 

Nightingale. 

.Tohn 
Dwelle. 

112 

100 

85 

23 

Jon.  Marsh. 

S.  Spear  & 
G.  Baxter. 

73 

62 

D.  Hobart. 

J.  H.  Bass. 

Ill 

63 

84 

24 

J.  Quincy. 

101 

72 

John  Shaw. 

Jon.  Spear. 

Jesse 
Newcomb. 

110 

102 

33 

25 

Wm. 

H.Hardwick 

71 

64 

Alph.  Spear. 

Wm.  Spear. 

Kidder. 

109 

32 

26 

D.  Greenleaf 

103 

70 

65 

Geo.  W. 

Capt.  J  Bass. 

Beale 

104 

27 

108 

Tho.  Taylor 

69 

66 

31 

Eben. 

Adams. 

68 

67 

107 

105 

C.  &L. 

Faxon. 

J.  Whitney. 

30 

28 

106 

29 

APPENDIX.  147 

remember  Mr.  Bryant  Newcomb,  from  the  Neck,  Miss  Mary  Jane 
Turner's  grandfather,  and  Ned  Seaver,  who  sat  in  the  gallery 
opposite  Temple  Street.  ...  I  saw  Mrs.  Jerusha  Hardwick  last 
evening,  and  she  thought  there  were  not  many  in  the  galleries 
in  those  days."  I  am  inclined  to  think  this  latter  conclusion 
is  to  be  accepted.  It  was  then  considered  the  proper  thing  to 
sit  downstairs,  and  not  many  gallery-pews  would  be  purchased 
while  pews  were  to  be  obtained  within  the  fashionable  area. 
As  will  be  seen  by  the  plan,  a  great  many  pews  remained  un- 
sold on  the  floor.  President  J.  Q.  Adams  bought  thirty  of 
them  for  three  thousand  dollars. 

The  building  committee  of  the  Stone  Temple  was  composed  of 
the  following  gentlemen  :  Thomas  Greenleaf  (chairman),  Noah 
Curtis,  John  Souther,  Lemuel  Brackett,  and  Daniel  Spear. 

GIFTS  OF  COMMUKCON  VESSELS. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  sacred  vessels  belonging  to  First 
Church,  with  the  inscriptions  they  bear,  and  some  facts  about  those 
who  gave  them  :  — 

A  small  cup,  having  two  handles,  and 
marked  on  the  bottom,  — 

JOANNAH    YORKE, 
1685 
B  C 

James  Yorke  and  Johanna  his  wife 
were  among  the  earliest  members  of  our 
church.  According  to  the  Braintree  records,  a  son  was  born  to  them 
June  14,  1648.  Afterward  they  removed  to  Stonington,  Conn.,  where 
in  1666  James  was  made  freeman. 

In  the  letter-book  of  Samuel  Sewall,  Vol.  I.  p.  28,  is  the  following 
entr}' :  — 

February  the  20th,  168|.  I  Samuel  Tomson,  Deacon  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  at  Braintrey,  have  received  of  Sam.  Sewall  one  silver  Goblet  to  the 
value  of  fourty  shillings  in  money;  which  is  in  full  of  a  Legacy  of  fourty  shil- 
lings bequeathed  said  church  by  Mrs,  Joanna  Yorke  of  Stonington,  lately 


148  APPENDIX. 

deceased.     In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seal  the  day 
and  year  first  above  written. 

Samel  Tompson  [Sig.]. 

Elizabeth  Lane. 

Mart  Kay. 

A  small  cup  of  the  same  form  as  the  preceding,  bearing  a  coat-of- 
arms  on  the  surface  and  marked  on  the  bottom,  — 

B  C 

1 699 

The  side  opposite  the  coat-of  arms  is  marked,  "  Gift  of  Edmund 
Quincy,  Esq.,  to  the  First  Church  of  Braintree,  now  Quincy,  by  will 
dated  December  11th,  1697," 

A  small  cup  of  the  same  form  as  the  preceding,  plain  on  the  sur- 
face, with  the  following  inscription:  "Ye  gift  of  Decon  Samll  bas, 
W"  Veasey,  Jno.  Ruggle,  David  Walesby,  1694." 

A  high  cup  marked  below  the  rim,  "The  gift  of  William  Needham 
to  Brantry  Church,  1688."  William  Needham  was  granted  in  1639  a 
house-plot  out  of  the  little  island  beyond  Coddington's  brook. 

A  high  cup  marked,  — 


The  B  is  for  Brackett,  and  the  M  stands  for  Richard,  and  the  A  for 
Alice  his  wife.  Richard  Brackett  was  in  Boston  in  1632,  and  with 
his  wife  Alice  was  dismissed  from  Boston  church  to  Braintree  church, 
Dec.  5,  1641.  He  probably  came  here  earlier,  as  in  June,  1638,  he 
was  granted  leave  to  sell  house  and  garden  in  Boston.  Richard  died 
the  3d  of  March,  1690,  aged  eighty  ;  Alice  died  the  3d  of  NoA^ember, 
1690,  aged  sevent3^-six.  The  cup  was  probably  given  as  a  memorial 
of  both  after  their  death. 

A  high  cup  marked,  "The  gift  of  Mrs.  Mehetable  Fisher  to  the 
First  Church  of  Christ  in  Braintree,  1741."     In  the  old  cemetery  in 


APPENDIX.  149 

Quincy  is  a  gravestone  with  this  inscription :  "  Here  lies  Buried  y*  Body 
of  Mrs.  Mehitable  Fisher,  wife  of  Mr.  Josiah  Fisher.  She  died  May 
18th,  1741,  in  the  78  year  of  her  age." 

A  cup  marked,  "  The  gift  of  y^  Hon'ble  Edmund  Quincy,  Esq.,  to 
ye  First  Church  in  Braintree,  Feb'y  23d,  1737-38." 

A  tankard  marked,  "  The  gift  of  the  Hon'ble  John  Quincy,  Esq.,  to 
the  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Braintree,  1767." 

A  tankard  marked,  "  The  gift  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Adams  (Relict  of  Mr. 
Edward  Adams,  late  of  Milton)  to  the  First  Church  in  Braintree." 
There  is  no  date  added,  but  the  church  records  fix  the  time  Nov.  4, 
1770. 

Four  large-sized  flagons,  marked  as  follows  :  "  Presented  hy  Daniel 
Greenleaf  to  the  Congregational  Church  in  Quincy,  1828." 

Three  plates,  marked  thus  :  "  Presented  to  the  First  Congregational 
Church  in  Quincy,  by  Deacon  Josiah  Adams,  Deacon  Daniel  Spear, 
and  Deacon  Samuel  Savil,  1828." 

A  baptismal  vase  having  this  inscription:  "Presented  to  the  Con- 
gregational Church  in  the  town  of  Quincy,  by  Mrs.  Eliza  Susan 
Quincy,  1828." 

A  small  cup  having  two  handles,  and  marked  on  one  side,  — 

with  the  following  inscription  below  it:  "To  the  First  Unitarian 
Church  of  Quincy,  from  Quincy  Tufts,  Weymouth,  July  4,  1872  ;  "  on 
opposite  side,  C  T  to  Q  T ;  and  on  bottom,  — 

T 
P  *  M 

A  tankard  bearing  a  coat  of  arms,  and  on  the  bottom,  — 

marked,  "To  the  First  Unitarian  Church  in  Quincy,  from  Quincy 
TuftS;  Weymouth,  July  4,  1872." 


150  APPENDIX. 


OTHER  GIFTS  TO  THE  CHURCH. 

The  clock  on  the  front  of  the  singers'  gallery  was  presented,  it  is 
said,  by  Madam  Abigail  Adams,  wife  of  President  Adams,  Sr.,  and 
Madam  Esther  Black,  widow  of  the  late  Moses  Black,  Esq.  The 
Rev.  Frederick  A.  Whitne}^,  however,  says  nothing  of  this,  and  quotes 
the  following  from  a  book  we  have  not  been  able  to  find  :  "  Sept.  30, 
1799.  Voted,  that  the  thanks  of  the  town  be  returned  to  President 
Adams  and  Mr.  Moses  Black  for  the  present  to  the  town  of  a  clock 
in  the  meeting-house."  When  this  clock  was  transferred  to  Stone 
Temple,  it  was  "  voted  to  put  a  new  dial  and  glass  to"  it. 

The  fine  crimson  curtain  which  adorns  the  wall  back  of  the  pulpit 
was  given  to  the  church  by  Miss  Nancy  Brackett. 

The  two  volumes  of  Scriptures,  used  in  the  pulpit,  contain  the  fol- 
lowing :  "To  the  Church  and  Congregational  Society  of  the  Town  of 
Quincy,  this  Bible,  for  the  use  of  the  Sacred  Desk,  is  respectfully 
presented  b}^  Josiah  Quincy.     Boston,  Oct.,  1808." 

"  New  bound  and  divided  into  two  volumes,  Oct.,  1828.  Josiah 
Quincy." 

Mr.  Thomas  Adams,  who  died  Jan.  2, 1869,  bequeathed  to  the  church 
the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  support  of  pubhc  worship. 

After  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  it  was  seen  by 
certain  minutes  he  had  written  that  he  had  it  in  mind  to  add  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  to  the  amount  given  by  Thomas  Adams.  No  provision 
for  this  was  made  in  his  will ;  but  the  family  of  Mr.  Adams  offered 
the  society  ten  thousand  dollars,  provided  the  total  sum  of  both  gifts, 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  should  be  safely  preserved,  and  the  income 
of  it  applied  to  the  support  of  worship  and  the  care  of  the  church 
building  and  the  grounds  around  it.  The  society  accepted  the  gift 
with  the  provisions  attached,  and  appointed  Henry  A.  Johnson, 
Edward  H.  Dewson,  and  Charles  H.  Porter  a  board  of  trustees  to 
receive  and  manage  the  fund. 

Miss  Sarah  Vinal,  who  died  in  Quincy,  May  20,  1881,  aged  85,  be- 
queathed to  the  society  one  thousand  dollars.  The  income  of  this 
sum  is  used  to  pay  any  expenses  of  the  society. 


APPENDIX.  151 


WHEELWRIGHT'S   PORTRAIT,  AND  OTHER   PORTRAITS 
AND   PICTURES. 

The  original  painting  from  which  the  portrait  of  John  Wheelwright 
in  this  volume  is  taken,  hangs  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  Secretary  of 
State  at  the  State  House.  My  attention  was  called  to  it  by  Mr.  Henry 
B.  Wheelwright,  a  direct  descendant  of  the  first  pastor  of  this  church. 
I  had  it  taken  down,  and  together  with  Mr.  A.  C.  Goodell,  Jr.,  and 
Mr.  David  Pulsifer,  thoroughl}'^  scrutinized  it.  There  is  no  name  anj'- 
where  on  or  about  the  picture,  no  direct  evidence  that  it  is  the  portrait 
of  the  Rev.  John  Wheelwright ;  but  an  inscription  in  dark  letters, 
almost  concealed  in  the  dark  paint  of  the  background,  indirect!}'  points 
to  Wheelwright  as  the  subject  of  it.  That  inscription  was  partly  cut 
off  when  at  some  time  the  canvas  was  reduced  to  fit  a  smaller  frame. 
It  is  as  follows  :  — 

"Aetat]is  Sua?  84 
Anno  DJomini  1677." 

These  dates  correspond  very  closely  with  the  age  of  Mr.  Wheel- 
wright. He  was  born,  says  Mr.  Bell,  in  the  early  part  of  1593  ;  add 
eighty-four  ^ears  to  that,  and  it  carries  us  to  the  j'ear  1677,  the  3'ear  of 
the  portrait.  So  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  there  is  only  one  other  minis- 
ter,— the  portrait  is  that  of  a  minister, — to  whose  age  these  figures  so 
nicely  accord.  Roger  Conant  was  born  in  1592-93,  and  died  Nov.  19, 
1679,  aged  eight^-seven  j^ears.  At  one  time  the  name  of  John  Higgin- 
son  got  attached  somehow  to  the  portrait,  but  as  that  minister  was  born 
as  late  as  1616  the  figures  plainly  have  no  application  to  him.  Jeremy 
Belknap,  the  historian  of  New  Hampshire,  presented  what  appears  to 
be  a  copy  of  this  painting  to  the  American  Antiquarian  Society  of 
Worcester.  John  Higginson's  name  was  then  upon  it,  and  it  is  from 
this  fact,  I  am  given  to  understand,  that  the  portrait  came  to  be  called 
that  of  John  Higginson.  Those  like  Mr.  Goodell,  Jr.,  and  Dr.  Edward 
Strong,  who  have  given  some  attention  to  the  matter,  are  inclined  to 
think  it  a  veritable  portrait  of  Wheelwright.  It  used  to  hang  in  the 
Senate  Chamber.  Wheelwright  in  his  later  years  was  still  a  marked 
man,  not  only  as  having  been  "like  Roger  Williams  or  worse,"  but 
also  as  having  been  the  honored  guest  of  his  friends  the  great  Crom- 


152  APPENDIX. 

well  and  "  Harry"  Vane  when  in  1657  he  visited  England,  and  in  this 
relation  being  of  some  considerable  service  to  the  colon}'.  Besides 
this,  ' '  his  children  and  grandchildren  had  married  very  conspicuously 
in  society,  and  there  might  have  been  a  strong  feeling  to  do  the  old 
man  justice  in  his  failing  age,"  and  pay  him  such  little  attention  as 
having  his  portrait  painted.  From  letters  written  me  by  Mr.  Henry 
B.  Wheelwright,  I  venture  to  abstract  the  following  :  — 

"  John  Wheelwright  was  the  only  clergyman  in  the  colony  of  the  age  named 
in  the  inscription  at  the  date  given  as  that  of  the  painting  of  the  portrait. 
That 's  all  any  one  can  say  about  it,  as  far  as  known  outside  of  the  family  ;  but 
I  am  convinced  from  the  anatomy  of  the  face,  old  and  withered  as  it  is,  and  it3 
strong  resemblance  about  the  mouth  and  cheeks  to  some  of  my  kindred,  that  it 
is  old  *  Boanerges '  himself.  ...  I  have  learned  the  value  of  little  things  as 
clews  ;  they  have  led  me,  Theseus-like,  out  of  many  a  mystery.  As  far  back 
as  I  can  remember  in  my  family,  there  has  been  a  '  trick '  in  each  generation  of 
carrying  the  thumb.  My  grandfather  lived  to  ninety-one,  and  always  sat  in  his 
armchair  with  hands  slightly  clasped,  and  both  thumbs  turned  upward  rigidly, 
in  extenso.  So  with  others  of  us  who  turn  up  one  thumb.  It  is  entirely  invol- 
untary with  us  all ;  /  am  liable  to  it  if  I  go  to  thinking  intently.  Now,  in  this 
picture  there  's  the  old  parson,  with  his  hand  on  his  Bible  and  thumb  rigidly 
turned  up  in  the  air,  like  three  generations  of  us  that  I  know  of.  This  seems 
laughable,  to  be  sure,  but  identity  is  often  detected  by  slighter  '  clews.' 

"  Mr.  John  Wheelwright  entered  Sidney-Sussex  College,  Cambridge,  April 
28,  1611,  pensioner,  —  which  means  that  he  was  a  person  of  property  sufficient 
to  maintain  him  in  good  style.  I  took  this  myself  from  the  original  books 
of  Sidney-Sussex  last  spring." 

Wheelwright  died  at  Salisbury,  Mass.,  Nov.  15,  1679.  The  family 
device  on  the  tomb  in  King's  Chapel  j-ard  is  "  Spectemur  agendo;" 
and  this,  his  descendant  my  correspondent  thinks,  is  an  entirely 
appropriate  and  accurately  descriptive  motto. 

To  Mr.  Harrison  J.  Dawes,  a  descendant  of  Richard  Cranch  and 
closely  resembling  him  in  his  features,  I  am  indebted  for  the  portrait 
of  that  vigorous  scholar  and  eminent  citizen.  The  picture  has  enough 
individuality  about  it  to  warrant  it  a  good  likeness.  Another  descend- 
ant was  the  late  Mr.  Richard  Greenleaf.  He  had  the  original  from 
which  the  photograph  was  taken  that  M^as  lent  to  me  by  Mr.  Dawes. 

The  portraits  of  members  of  the  Adams  family  are,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  that  of  the  Hon.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  from  original  paint- 


APPENDIX.  153 

ings.  In  his  "Figures  of  the  Past"  Josiah  Quincy  has  a  pleasant 
description  of  John  Adams  sitting  to  Gilbert  Stuart  for  the  portrait 
copied  for  this  book.  From  the  brush  of  that  celebrated  painter  came 
also  the  likeness  of  Abigail  Adams.  The  portrait  of  John  Quincy 
Adams  was  painted  by  Cople}',  and  that  of  Mrs.  J.  Q.  Adams  by  an 
unknown  artist.  Some  of  the  best  work  of  W.  M.  Hunt  is  exhibited 
in  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  Charles  F.  Adams.  The  heliotype  of  the  Hon. 
Charles  F.  Adams  is  from  a  very  accurate  photograph. 

It  was  an  antiquarian  motive  which  induced  me  to  publish 
pictures  of  houses  representative  of  old  Braintree.  Already  we 
regret  the  loss  of  houses  which,  locally,  are  historical,  —  notably  the 
Hancock  house  destroyed  many  years  ago  by  fire,  and  the  house  in 
which  ministers  Fiske  and  Marsh  lived,  lately  removed  to  the  back  of 
his  land  by  Charles  H.  Spear,  of  Franklin  Street,  the  present  owner. 
This  latter  house  Samuel  Tompson  sold  to  Fiske,  July  12,  1672  (Suf- 
folk Deeds,  13  :  37,  Br.  Rec.  p.  11).  Is  this  the  house  Parson  Tompson 
lived  in  ?  The  Webb  house  seemed  to  have  the  first  claim  to  preserva- 
tion, as  it  is  a  contemporary^  and  neighbor  of  the  oldest  meeting-house 
of  which  we  have  any  record.  It  faced  the  little  town  common  where 
the  meeting-house  stood,  and,  as  I  surmise,  was  built  parallel  with 
that  branch  of  the  road  which  diverged  to  the  east  to  pass  around  the 
meeting-house.  It  was  "from  the  fence  of  Benjamin  Webb,  south- 
erly" into  the  common  fronting  the  east  door  of  the  meeting-house, 
that  sheds  were  built  to  shelter  the  horses  of  "  persons  liveing  remote  " 
(Br.  Rec.  pp.  41,  66).  It  is  the  last  of  the  old  houses  which  were 
situated  in  this  neighborhood.  The  land  on  which  it  stands  is  that 
parcel  which  Benjamin  Tompson  purchased  of  Thomas  Bass  about 
1679  (Br.  Rec.  p.  19),  and  which,  with  the  house  upon  it,  was  sold  by 
"Benjamin  Tompson,  of  the  town  of  Roxborough,  school-master, 
.  .  .  with  the  free  consent  of  Prudence  his  wife,  ...  to  Benjamin 
Webb,  of  the  town  of  Brantrey,  leather-dresser,"  Nov.  14,  1700 
(Suffolk  Deeds,  folio  20,  p.  489).  Probably  Tompson  built  it  and  lived 
in  it  while  teaching  in  the  little  schoolhouse  on  the  common. 

The  Ruggles  house,  now  occupied  by  Miss  E.  C.  Adams  and  Mr. 
Isaac  Hull  Adams,  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  Quinc}' ;  it  is  the  rear  part, 
however,  which  is  the  ancient  house.  This  is  the  house  referred  to  in 
Braintree  Records,  p.  6,  where  in  1655  "  ther  is  layd  one  footway  to 


154  APPENDIX. 

ly  from  the  Eocke  b}-  George  Ruggells  over  the  fresh  Brooke."  The 
"  roeke  "  is  still  ii  marked  object  at  the  Elm  Street  end  of  the  "  Miller's 
style  "  path,  which  is  the  way  then  laid  out.  George  Ruggells  is  living 
in  Braintree  in  1G42  when  Boston  threatens  to  sue  him  for  the  land 
granted  him  in  1640  (Boston  Records,  Second  Rep.  of  Rec.  Com, 
pp.  58,  59,  71,  82,  84).     Probably  the  house  was  built  in  1641. 

The  Brackett  homestead  is  a  ver}-  old  structure,  at  least  in  the 
northwest  end  of  it.  Its  situation  near  the  shore  and  its  structural 
character  mark  it  as  a  very  ancient  building.  The  Wheelwright  grant 
may  have  included  the  land  upon  which  it  is  built.  Captain  Richard 
Brackett  was  granted  permission  to  sell  house  and  garden  in  Boston, 
June  1,  1638  (^Bost.  Rec.  34).  If  he  then  bought  land  in  Braintree  it 
was  just  when  Wheelwright  was  disposing  of  his  grant,  and  Captain 
Brackett  may  have  been  part  purchaser.  But  this  is  all  conjecture  ;  I 
have  not  been  able  to  find  any  facts.  I  am  not  at  all  confident,  even, 
that  the  earliest  Capt.  Richard  Brackett  owned  and  occupied  this  old 
homestead.  His  land  seems  to  be  in  this  neighborhood  (Br.  Rec. 
p.  5),  and  all  the  way  up  Town  Brook  to  the  county  road  (Hancock 
Street)  the  land  at  a  later  time  is  in  the  possession  of  his  descend- 
ants. Elm  Street  was  early  called  the  road  "  leading  to  Capt.  Richard 
Brackett's  Landing."  But  which  Capt.  Richard  is  it,  —  there  was 
another  Richard  born  in  1707,  —  and  where  is  the  landing? 

The  Adams  mansion,  built  originally  about  1730,  "as  the  summer 
resort  of  a  West  India  planter,"  sa3s  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  the  younger, 
was  sequestered  as  Tory  property  after  the  Revolution,  and  bought 
by  John  Adams  in  1785.  Leonard  Vassall  was  the  name  of  tliis 
planter,  a  rigid  Episcopalian,  who  in  his  will  before  his  marriage,  in 
1737,  made  provision  that  his  widow  should  have  the  use  and  improve- 
ment of  his  real  estate  during  her  continuing  "  a  professed  member  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  of  England."  The  house  he  built  "still  con- 
tains one  room  panelled  from  floor  to  ceiling  in  solid  St.  Domingo 
mahogany.  Originally  it  was  a  small  dwelling,  constructed  on  a  plan 
not  unusual  in  the  tropics,  with  a  kitchen  and  all  domestic  arrange- 
ments behind  the  house  and  in  a  separate  building.  In  itself  it  con- 
tained only  parlors  and  sleeping-rooms  ;  but  gradually'  it  was  added  to, 
until  the  original  house  is  now  lost  in  the  wide  front  and  deep  gabled 


Lewis  Vassall   1730— Virchild   1749— Cranch— Greenleaf 


From  fi  sketch  ivMiss  E.S.Ouincy,  taken  m  18U6. 

This  houxf  slnuii on  HtincorkS(Jimintm  now  (finiicv.aiul  wnslnnltiibmit  K'lC  mi  ffietmct 
ol  lam/  tininlcil  him  by  the  Colons' 


Situated  on  the  Taylor  Farm,   near  the  corner  of  Beale  and  Hancock  Streets,   Wollaston 


HELIOTYPE  PRINTING  CO..    BOSTON 


APPENDIX.  155 

wings  of  the  later  structure.  In  this  house  John  Adams  died  ;  and  in 
the  same  room  in  it  were  celebrated  his  own  golden  wedding,  and  the 
golden  wedding  of  his  son  and  grandson." 

It  was  a  temptation  not  easily  resisted  to  include  among  the  pictures 
a  view  of  a  corner  of  this  drawing-room.  Such  was  its  appearance 
while  the  house  was  occupied  by  the  late  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  F.  Adams. 
The  last  event  of  which  it  was  the  scene  was  the  burial  service  over 
the  remains  of  Mrs.  Adams.  Vocal  is  that  room  with  great  memories. 
What  gatherings  of  notable  persons  have  been  there  !  "What  high 
converse  has  been  held  there  !  On  the  walls  are  the  portraits  of  the 
two  Presidents  and  their  consorts,  and  others  famous  in  history. 

Lewis  Vassall,  a  brother  of  Leonard,  built  a  house  on  the  other  side 
of  the  town  similar  to  the  one  bought  b}'  John  Adams.  He  died  in 
1 743,  having  occupied  the  house  about  ten  years.  In  1 749  the  estate 
was  sold  at  auction  to  "James  Virchild  of  the  Island  of  St.  Chris- 
tophers, Esq."  Some  3-ears  afterward  Richard  Cranch  sold  his  farm 
back  of  President's  Hill,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  the  Virchild 
house.  He  lived  here  till  his  death  in  1811.  John  Greenleaf,  who 
married  Luc}',  a  daughter  of  Richard  Cranch,  subsequently  bought 
the  estate.  For  many  j-ears  it  was  the  homestead  of  the  Cranches 
and  the  Greenleafs.  The  estate  is  now  owned  by  Mr.  James 
Edwards.  The  old  house  was  removed  in  the  year  1857  to  Water 
Street,  and  a  fine  modern  structure  built  in  its  place.  A  painting 
of  the  house  in  its  original  situation  was  made  while  still  occupied  by 
the  Greenleafs,  by  Mr.  C.  P.  Cranch,  and  from  that  the  heliotype  is 
taken. 

The  old  houses  distinguished  as  the  birthplaces  of  Presidents  John 
and  John  Quincy  Adams  are  described  as  excellent  specimens  of  the 
dwellings  of  the  farmers  of  the  earliest  period  of  our  history.  Two 
houses  so  notable  there  are  not  besides  in  the  whole  country.  Not 
only  are  the}'  famous  as  the  birthplaces  of  two  of  our  greater  Chief 
Magistrates,  but  as  the  scene  of  that  beautifully  heroic  and  devout 
domestic  life  portrayed  in  the  letters  of  Abigail  Adams. 

A  history  of  considerable  length  might  be  written  about  the  Quincy 
mansion,  but  here  one  must  limit  himself  to  mere  dates.  The  diary 
of  John  Marshall  tells  us  that   "June   14,   1706,   we  raised  Mr. 


156  APPENDIX. 

Quinze3''s  house,"  —  but  whether  this  was  the  beginning  of  the  man- 
sion or  the  building  of  an  addition  to  it  is  a  little  uncertain.  Before 
this,  on  March  22,  1685-86,  Samuel  Sewall,  according  to  an  entry 
in  his  diary,  "Lodged  in  the  lower  room  of  Unkle  Quinsey's  new 
house."  Was  this  "  new  house"  the  oldest  part  of  the  present  man- 
sion, or  was  it  the  little  farm-house  with  the  gambrel  roof  standing 
a  little  to  the  south  of  the  mansion?  I  am  inclined  to  the  opinion 
that  the  "new  house"  of  1685-86  is  the  old  part  of  the  mansion, 
and  that  the  farm-house  was  there  from  the  beginning.  Indeed,  with 
respect  to  that  farm-house  the  thought  recurs  again  and  again  that  it 
is  the  original  Coddington  house.  He  had  a  house  near  here ;  the 
brook  was  first  called  "  Coddington's  Brook;"  and  the  land  he  sold 
was  in  part  on  the  south  of  the  brook,  extending  as  far  as  the  "buring 
ground."  The  Quincej's  seem  to  be  in  Boston  till  after  the  departure 
of  Coddington.  But  all  this  is  aside  from  the  real  interest  which 
attaches  to  the  Quincy  mansion  as  the  birthplace  and  home  of  so 
many  eminent  persons. 

The  farm-house  of  the  Rev.  John  Wilson  is  included  among  the 
pictures  because  it  is  a  good  specimen  of  the  old  architecture,  and 
because  it  was  built  by  the  minister  whose  parish  had  its  centre  in 
Boston  and  its  confines  in  this  distant  region.  He  was  the  first  to 
receive  a  grant  of  land  within  the  limits  of  our  old  township.  He 
was  given  a  great  farm  here,  and  built  him  the  house  in  the  picture. 
The  house  he  never  occupied,  but  descendants  of  his  lived  in  it  and 
it  was  long  in  the  famih'.  With  regard  to  the  sketch  reproduced  for 
this  book,  I  quote  the  following  from  a  letter  received  from  Mr.  Thomas 
Minns  of  Boston  in  response  to  inquiries  made  of  him  :  — 

"I  had  given  considerable  attention  to  the  genealogy  of  the  Rev.  John 
Wilson,  and  knew  that  the  later  generations  of  the  Quincys  were  descended 
from  him,  and  that  the  thousand  acres  of  land  granted  him  by  the  Colony 
adjoined  the  Quincy  estate. 

"  When  Mr.  A.  B.  Ellis  was  writing  his  history  of  the  First  Church  in 
Boston,  I  suggested  that  he  should  write  to  the  Quincys  and  ask  if  they  had 
anything  about  the  Rev.  John  Wilson. 

"  This  drew  out  interesting  letters  from  the  late  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy  and 
his  sister  Miss  E.  S.  Quincy,  and  one  of  her  letters  was  accompanied  by  a 
sketch  of  the  house  and  barn  made  by  her  in  1846. 


APPENDIX.  157 

"  Mr.  E.  WLitefield,  an  artist,  was  known  to  me  as  having  produced  several 
interesting  volumes  of  '  Homes  of  our  Forefathers,'  and  I  suggested  to  IMr. 
ElUs  that  he  should  make  this  sketch  for  his  book,  and  it  will  be  found  at  page 
101.  Mr.  Whitefield  went  to  Quincy,  saw  Miss  Quincy,  who  kindly  accom- 
panied him  to  the  spot ;  and  he  then  and  there  made  this  sketch,  adding  the 
house  and  barn  from  the  picture  made  by  Miss  Quincy  in  1846.  I  think  the 
cellar  of  the  house  still  remains." 

To  one  who  is  familiar  with  the  history  of  the  Quincy  family,  it 
must  seem  an  omission  that  portraits  of  other  eminent  bearers  of  the 
name  are  not  inserted  in  this  volume.  There  is  Edmund  Quincy, 
third  of  the  name,  born  in  1627,  conspicuously  active  in  the  affairs  of 
town  and  church,  the  first  major  and  lieutenant-colonel  in  Braintree,  and 
one  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  which  in  1688  formed  the  provisional 
government  of  the  colony  until  the  arrival  of  the  new  charter  from 
William  and  Mar3\  He  bequeathed  to  our  church  a  silver  cup  as  a 
token  of  his  love  for  it ;  his  entire  life  was  spent  in  this  place.  A 
portrait  of  him  is  something  to  be  wished  for ;  none,  however,  is  in 
existence,  as  far  as  I  can  learn.  Of  his  son,  another  Edmund,  born 
in  1681,  there  is  a  portrait  extant ;  but  it  is  said  not  to  be  worthy  the 
man.  He  is  the  Edmund  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hancock  writes  of  so  affection- 
ately. A  notable  man  he  was  in  his  day,  made  colonel  of  the  Suffolk 
regiment,  —  Braintree  was  then  part  of  Suffolk  County,  —  and  com- 
missioned judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Judicature.  At  the  age  of 
fift^^-eight  he  was  appointed  by  the  State  special  agent  to  represent  its 
interests  at  the  court  of  Great  Britain  with  respect  to  the  boundary 
line  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire  ;  he  died  in  London  while 
executing  his  trust.  He  was  in  his  day  the  most  prominent  man  in 
First  Church.  It  is  "  Colonel  Edmund  Quinsey,  Esqr.,"  who  is  chosen 
moderator  of  the  first  meeting  of  "ye  north-end  Precinct,"  and  he 
continues  to  be  the  favorite  presiding  officer  and  leading  spirit  of  it 
till  after  the  building  of  the  Hancock  meeting-house,  which  he  did 
so  much  to  further.  He  is  interesting  to  us,  also,  as  the  father  of 
' '  Dorothy  Q. ;  "  and  to  afford  a  glimpse  of  them  and  their  times  I  can- 
not do  better  than  to  insert  here  a  letter  written  to  the  damsel  when  she 
was  visiting  at  Springfield.  Mr.  Quincy  was  living  in  the  mansion  by 
the  brook,  and  Doroth}^  was  fifteen  years  of  age,  a  little  older  than 
when  her  portrait  was  painted,  as  Dr.  Holmes  guesses.  The  letter  is 
taken  from  Miss  Eliza  Susan  Quincy's  Memoir  of  Edmund  Quincy, 


158  APPENDIX. 

published  in  the  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register 

for  April,  1884. 

Beaintree,  July  8,  1724. 

My  dear  Daughter,  —  This  is  to  bring  you  the  good  news  of  my  safe 
return  home,  Commencement  day,  in  the  evening,  and  finding  your  mother  in 
good  health. 

With  this  you  will  have  from  your  sister  Betsey  the  things  you  wrote  for 
])y  me,  and  from  your  brother  Edmund  a  small  present.  My  child,  you  are 
peculiarly  favored  among  your  friends  in  these  parts  in  having  a  good  word 
spoken  of  you,  and  good  wishes  made  for  you  by  everybody ;  let  this  hint  be 
improved  only  to  quicken  and  encourage  you  in  virtue  and  a  good  life. 

My  love  to  all  the  family  in  which  you  are,  with  your  Mother's  and  Grand- 
mothers' also,  to  them  and  you. 

I  am  your  dear  and  loving  father, 

E.    QuiNCY. 

Half  a  yard  of  muslin  being  too  little  for  two  head-dresses,  your  sister  has 
sent  you  one  yard  wanting  half  a  quarter,  which  cost  ten  and  sixpence,  —  and 
the  thread  (lace)  cost  fourteen  shillings ;  so  much  I  paid  for,  and  't  is  the  best 
thread  and  muslin  of  the  price. 

Some  time  before  the  departure  of  Edmund  Quincy  for  England, 
Major  John  Quincy  was  frequently  appointed  moderator  of  the  North 
Precinct  (or  church)  meetings  ;  he  also,  for  years,  was  a  favorite  pre- 
siding officer.  There  is  a  portrait  of  him  as  a  child  in  the  possession 
of  the  Adams  family;  but  it  is  the  "major"  we  want  to  see, — the 
"colonel,"  the  "speaker  of  the  House,"  the  patriot  who  "was  as 
much  esteemed  and  respected  as  any  man  in  the  province."  As 
such,  unfortunately,  his  face  is  not  to  be  looked  upon.  It  was  in 
honor  of  him  that  the  North  Precinct  was  named  Quincy.  Mr.  C.  F. 
Adams  the  younger  writes  of  this  incident  as  follows  :  — 

"When  in  1792  the  original  town  of  Braintree  was  subdivided,  the  Rev. 
Anthony  Wibird  was  requested  to  give  a  name  to  the  place ;  but  he  refusing, 
a  similar  request  was  made  to  the  Hon.  Richard  Cranch,  who  recommended 
its  being  called  Quincy,  in  honor  of  Col.  John  Quincy.  Nor  was  this  the  only 
form  in  which  the  name  was  perpetuated.  Colonel  Quincy  had  two  children, 
a  son  named  Norton  in  honor  of  his  mother's  family,  and  a  daughter  who 
became  in  time  the  wife  of  William  Smith,  of  Weymouth.  Among  the  children 
of  this  couple  was  one  who  in  October,  1764,  married  John  Adams.  In  July, 
1767,  as  old  John  Quincy  lay  dying  at  Mount  Wollaston,  this  granddaughter  of 
his  gave  birth  to  a  son,  and  when,  the  next  day,  as  was  then  the  practice,  the 
child  was  baptized,  its  grandmother,  who  was  present  at  its  birth,  requested 


APPENDIX.  159 

that  it  miglit  be  called  after  her  father.  Long  afterwards,  the  child  thus 
named  wrote  of  this  incident :  '  It  was  filial  tenderness  that  gave  the  name. 
Jt  was  the  name  of  one  passing  from  earth  to  immortality.  These  have 
been  among  the  strongest  links  of  my  attachment  to  the  name  of  Qiiincy, 
and  have  been  to  me  through  life  a  perpetual  admonition  to  do  nothing 
unworthy  of  it.'  " 

The  portrait  of  the  William  Smith,  above  spoken  of,  is  placed  in 
the  group  of  some  particularly  connected  with  First  Church  for  two 
reasons :  First,  because  that  minister  is  closeh'  related  to  many  per- 
sons prominent  in  our  histor}',  —  one  daughter,  as  we  have  seen, 
marr^'ing  John  Adams,  and  another  marrying  Richard  Cranch.  The 
second  reason  is  an  antiquarian  one,  the  desire  to  save  the  likeness 
from  possible  destruction. 

MOSES  FISKE'S  AUTOGRAPH. 

Mr.  William  Blake  Trask  transcribed  lately  the  sermon  which 
the  Rev.  Moses  Fiske  preached  June  4,  1694,  before  the  Ancient  and 
Honorable  Artillery  Company.  This  was  done  by  vote  of  the  com- 
pany, and  it  is  now  for  the  first  time  printed.  While  engaged  in  this 
work,  Mr.  Trask  searched  out  the  material  for  a  quite  exhaustive  life 
of  minister  Fiske,  with  a  view  to  publication.  What  he  has  written  is 
still  in  MSS.  He  found  an  autograph  of  Mr.  Fiske  in  Worcester, 
which  he  at  once  had  engraved.  This  he  Las  kindly  permitted  me 
to  use. 


m  os^  ^4>- 


